Metaphors We Live By Essay

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Metaphor is a figurative use of language that refers to one thing by mentioning another thing. It is a kind of semantic extension which involves the conceptualization in which the senses of words are transferred from one cognitive domain to another that are normally similar in components. For example, In Metaphors We Live By, Lakoff and Johnson discussed the example of arguments, which we often talk about as though they were related to war – 'His argument was blown out of the water', 'They battled for hours', 'She won the argument'. They combined/claimed these metaphors as ARGUMENT IS WAR – which is regarded as conceptual metaphor. Argument is regarded as the target domain as it the concept that is being described, while War is the source domain with a more concrete idea. Most of us think of a metaphor as a device used in poems only, and that it has no connection with our daily life. However, we use metaphors in our daily life and It’s difficult to avoid them. Metaphors are sometimes constructed through our common language. For instance, calling a person a boiling mad or saying “His kisses are like roses,” are common types of metaphors used in our surroundings. In English, when we portray a thing as being …show more content…

In many political news articles, the discourse is full of metaphors. As mentioned by Gibbs many of the metaphors used in politics draw heavily and consistently on the languages of sports and warfare. Zoltan has also stated that ‘ war’, ‘race’ and ‘game’,’sport’ is one of the most popular source domains to refer to the metaphor with politics (target domain). Therefore, metaphors are regarded to be a key for the people’s support during the election campaigns. Many phrases like race, run, jogging and finish line are used in political campaigns so frequently that their literal meanings fade

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