Metaphors
we live by !!!
by
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
ARGUMENT IS WAR
Your claim is indefensibly
He attacked every weak point in my argument
His criticisms were right on target
I demolished his argument
I’ve never won an argument with him
You disagree? Okay shoot
If you use that strategy, he’ll wipe you out
He shot down all of my arguments
It is important to see that we don’t just talk about arguments in terms of war. We can actually win or lose arguments. We see the person we are arguing with as an opponent.
Imagine a culture where an argument is viewed as a dance.
The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another. It is not that arguments are a subspecies of war. But argument is partially structured, understood, performed and talked about in terms of war.
TIME IS MONEY
You’re wasting my time.
This gadget will save you hours.
I don’t have the time to give you
How do you spend your time these days.
That flat tire cost me an hour.
I’ve invested a lot of time inher.
I don’t have enough time to spare for that.
You’re running out of time.
You need to budget your time better.
Put aside some time for ping pong.
Is that worth your while?
He’s living on borrowed time.
You don’t use your time profitably.
I lost a lot of time when I got sick.
Thank you for your time.
In our culture time is money in telephone message units, hourly wages, hotel rates, yearly budges. These practices are new in the human experience.