Metaphors We Live By

Reading this piece gave me a lot of insight on how we as individuals unconsciously use metaphors and icons. What I thought was most interesting was how the authors showed us that the metaphors we use help shape the perception of the message and depending on what metaphors we use, the perceptions of the same message can come off as totally different. Thinking of marriage as a "contract agreement," for example, leads to one set of expectations, while thinking of it as "teamplay," "a negotiated settlement," "Russian roulette," "an indissoluble merger," or "a religious sacrament" will carry different sets of expectations.” (Lakoff and Johnson) I feel that this is a perfect example of the message that Lakoff and Johnson were attempting to convey throughout this piece. I really enjoyed the reference of “argument is war”. It showed me that we really do live by metaphors unconsciously and that they are a vital part of our everyday lives.

Trying to think of an argument as a dance was nearly impossible but it showed me something very deep. These metaphors that are being described by Lakoff and Johnson are what we live by. If we metaphorically viewed our real life situations such as arguments and marriage differently, our actions would be totally different as well. The metaphor “time is money” gives us the impression that our time is just as valuable as money. It is because of this that our society looks down on “wasting time”. Imagine if we looked at time as an equivalent to an under shirt. Some of us would still view time as important, but there is some of us that wouldn’t see time as important anymore. Because time is viewed as an equivalent to money, everyone views time as very important and that has a large affect on the way we function as a society.

Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Excerpts from Metaphors We Live By (1980).

             The Literary Link. Janice E. Patten. 2010. San Jose State University. Web.

             http://theliterarylink.com/metaphors.html.