http://www.wordnik.com/lists/metaphors-we-live-by.xml By George Lakoff and Mark Johnson<br /><br />"Metaphor is for most people a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish--a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language. Moreover, metaphor is typically viewed as characteristic of language alone, a matter of words rather than thought or action. For this reason, most people think they can get along perfectly well without metaphor. We have found, on the contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. <br /><br />The concepts that govern our thought are not just matters of the intellect. They also govern our everyday functioning, down to the most mundane details. Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we relate to other people. Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our everyday realities. If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor.<br /><br />But our conceptual system is not something we are normally aware of. In most of the little things we do everyday, we simply think and act more or less automatically along certain lines. Just what these lines are is by no means obvious. One way to find out is by looking at language. Since commmunication is based on the same conceptual system we use in thinking and acting, language is an important source of evidence for what that system is like.<br /><br />Primarily on the basis of linguistic evidence, we have found that most of our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature. And we have found a way to begin to identify in detail just what the metaphors are that structure how we perceive, how we think, and what we do..." http://www.wordnik.com http://www.wordnik.com/words/sapir-whorf hypothesis Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:45:51 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/sapir-whorf hypothesis http://www.wordnik.com/words/time is money Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:09:51 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/time is money http://www.wordnik.com/words/argument is war Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:09:46 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/argument is war http://www.wordnik.com/words/argument is building Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:09:41 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/argument is building http://www.wordnik.com/words/important is big Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:07:39 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/important is big http://www.wordnik.com/words/big is strong Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:04:27 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/big is strong http://www.wordnik.com/words/love as a force Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:02:02 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/love as a force http://www.wordnik.com/words/love as container Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:00:29 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/love as container http://www.wordnik.com/words/love is magic Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:59:55 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/love is magic http://www.wordnik.com/words/metonymy Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:57:43 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/metonymy http://www.wordnik.com/words/ideas are food Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:51:24 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/ideas are food http://www.wordnik.com/words/knowing is grasping Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:50:11 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/knowing is grasping http://www.wordnik.com/words/seeing is knowing Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:50:03 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/seeing is knowing http://www.wordnik.com/words/seeing is containing Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:49:54 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/seeing is containing http://www.wordnik.com/words/mind is a machine Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:48:21 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/mind is a machine http://www.wordnik.com/words/happy as up-sad as down Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:47:41 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/happy as up-sad as down http://www.wordnik.com/words/life as up-death as down Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:47:16 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/life as up-death as down http://www.wordnik.com/words/conscious is up-unconscious is down Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:39:12 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/conscious is up-unconscious is down http://www.wordnik.com/words/communication is sending Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:36:41 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/communication is sending http://www.wordnik.com/words/words are containers Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:36:30 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/words are containers http://www.wordnik.com/words/ideas (or meanings) are objects Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:35:42 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/ideas (or meanings) are objects