So-called Conduit metaphors form composites which may hide their origins in language rather than real things. So Love is a physical force, but it is also a patient to be cared for, a madness to be overcome, a form of magic which entrances, and even a war within ourselves and with the beloved. Metaphors not only morph, they also breed. From Time is Money to Happy is Up to a sight which Fills our Field of Vision, without a shared grasp (!) of these metaphors, communication would be impossible.Īnd then things get even more complicated. Metaphors We Live By documents (!) hundreds of what might be called root (!) metaphors which ramify (!) uncontrollably throughout the language. Our brains are effectively hardwired (!) by them. They are literally in almost every sentence we utter. The pervasiveness of metaphors really can’t be overstated. There are certainly other ways to consider argument - let’s say as leading to consensus in the culture of the North American Plains Indians for example - but not for us. Through them, at least in our Western European culture, we know that there are winners and losers in an argument just as in war.

These expressions are not without content or effect. We make defensible claims so that our thesis is not demolished by an attack by our opponents. For example we conduct an argument like we’re engaging in a war. So language fools us into thinking its not even there. And “the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.” Of course, the ‘things’ in question are always other words. We don’t even notice that these sorts of activities are metaphorical. We fall in love, offer food for thought, try not to waste time, and build theories. The way this works in daily life is by our inevitable and pervasive use of metaphors to describe the world and what we’re doing in it. This is a difficult idea to hold onto, mainly because it suggests that none of us really knows what we might be talking about. The conspiracy of language becomes obvious as soon as one recognizes the fact that words are defined solely in terms of other words, never in terms of things outside of language. But language is crafty it seems to have its own interests more than ours at heart. It looks like something neutral, a tool for doing things, some good, some not so good depending on its user. This classic from the 1970’s shows why this is so in an entertaining and convincing way.

All that business about grammar and figures of speech is actually essential for getting on in the world quite apart from speaking proper. It turns out there were really good existential reasons for paying attention in primary school English.

Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff