Metaphor

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Metaphor

• The Job of the Fed is to Take Away the Punchbowl
  Just When the Party is Getting Good Alan
  Greenspan.
• Lifes But a Walking Shadow, a Poor Player, That
  Struts and Frets His Hour Upon the Stage.
  Shakespeare, Macbeth.

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• From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
  Adriatic an Iron Curtain Has Descended Across the
  Continent. Winston Churchill.
• The Moon is an Apple. Isaac Newton
• The Light That Shines Comes From Thine Eyes.
  Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet.

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Metaphor?

• Looks like a Greek word.
• From meta- more pherein- to bear

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But this is Social World

• Metaphors are powerful communication tools.
• They can change images.
• The intuitive appeal of a scientific theory has
  to do with how well its metaphors fit ones
  experience.-- LJ

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We think in metaphor

• Lakoff and Johnson propose that our language is
  metaphorical . . .
• Because we experience, understand, and conceive
  the world by use of metaphor.

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A test.

• Incommensurable.
• Commensurate.
• How do we grasp concepts that are out of reach?
  (SAT words)
• How do we think complex thoughts?

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A reply.

• We build from basic thoughts and experience.
• We were once of short stature and were tabula
  rossa.

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We accept the hypothesis

• Concepts are metaphorical. (They are how we
  think.)
• If we think in metaphorical concepts, then they
  define how we may choose to act. (Activity is
  metaphorical.)

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Metaphors and Social World

• Thus far
• Metaphors are important for tools for
  communicating meaning.
• Metaphors are how we think, and therefore define
  how we create. (Puzzle solving)

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Formal Definition

• The essence of metaphor is understanding and
  experiencing one kind of thing in terms of
  another. LJ

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Systematic

• Our metaphors are systematic.
• Our metaphorical language is systematic.
• Why should we expect this?

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Example Time is Money

• Time is Money
• Time is a Limited Resource
• Time is a Valuable Resource
• We Can Spend, Invest, Budget, Use It Profitably

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• We Can Use It, Use It Up, Have Enough of It, Run
  Out of It
• We Can Have, Give, Lose, Thank You For
• We Use Time is Money for the Entire System
  Its the Most Specific Metaphor
• It is a pervasive metaphor.

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Example Love is a Journey

• There are Several Kinds of Journeys
• Its Been a Long, Bumpy Road.
• This relationship is a Dead-End Street.
• Were Just Spinning Our Wheels.
• Were Back On Track.
• This Relationship is Foundering On the Rocks.

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Two Other Ways of Structuring Metaphors

• Orientational
• Ontological

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Orientational Metaphors

• Up-Down
• In-Out
• Front-Back
• On-Off
• Deep-Shallow
• Central-Peripheral

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• Happy is Up Sad is Down.
• Virtue is Up Depravity is Down.
• Rational is Up Emotional is Down.

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Ontological Metaphors

• Our Experience With Physical Objects and
  Substances Provides a Further Basis for
  Understanding Metaphor
• We Often View Events, Activities, Emotions, and
  Ideas as Entities and Substances

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• We Refer Metaphorically to Rising Prices As an
  Entity Via the Noun Inflation
• We Say
• Inflation is Taking Its Toll at the Gas Pump
• Inflation is Lowering Our Standard of Living
• We Need to Combat Inflation

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• Treating Inflation as an Entity Lets Us
• Refer to It
• Quantify It
• Identify a Particular Aspect of It
• Act With Respect to It

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• We Say The Mind is a Machine
• Were Trying to Grind Out the Solution to the
  Equation.
• The Wheels are Really Turning Now
• Im a Little Rusty Today
• Weve Worked on the Problem a Long Time and
  Were Running Out of Steam

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• The Preservers of History are as Heroic as it
  Makers -- Pat Neff Hall