George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s “Metaphors We Live By” gives the reader a view of the application of metaphors in daily lives during communication. The authors bring out a different perspective about metaphors, a view that goes beyond poetic application. The concept is essential in communication because it serves to bring out the meaning of various aspects. The use of metaphors differs from one person to another and from one culture to another. Metaphors help in understanding different aspects of life and have cultural implications. Thus, the article identifies that metaphors are not just poetic but inform normal ways through which people communicate or talk about life situations.
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson identified that people use metaphorical concepts daily unconsciously or without purposefully intending to use them. The authors point out that people act in automatic ways without knowing it (3). However, metaphors bring out different meanings and help in understanding something abstract. They help individuals in comprehending something that they cannot reach out and touch or feel it. Through metaphors, people get to look at something from a different perspective. For instance, when one equates love with falling, they show how difficult it is to control emotions. When one also equates love with madness, they imply that one may act in a crazy way even when they are not with their beloved ones. Therefore, metaphors are part of daily communications, and people use them unconsciously or without any intention.
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There is a relationship between culture and metaphors in that both shape the other. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson use the example of an argument to describe how different cultures view the concept. For instance, one culture may consider argument as war, whereas the other considers it as a dance. Lakoff and Johnson also explain that even though one culture view argument as a dance, “we would probably not view them as arguing at all: they would simply be doing something different (5).” The most common aspect that the authors identified is that several cultures consider time as money or as a limited resource (9). Only those cultures that consider labor as a commodity are more likely to view “time as a limited resource (9).” One’s beliefs and background determine how they use different elements of metaphors in communicating. People may find themselves in a bicultural society where cultural metaphors could be considered as socially acceptable or unacceptable. Therefore, one can consider metaphors in communication in terms of culture, human identity, and language.
Ontological metaphors serve different purposes depending on the type used. Lakoff and Johnson identified various uses of ontological metaphors such as entity, referring, identifying causes, quantifying, and setting goals and motivating actions (27). The application of various words will depend on the message that communication is intended to serve. Personification is a common feature of ontological metaphors. Thus, metaphors are used in almost all aspects of individuals’ lives and involve the use of personification (33-34). Therefore, ontological metaphors pick out different aspects of people’s lives to bring out the meaning of the key concept explained.
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson expound the concept of metaphors beyond their poetic uses; as the authors explain how the concepts apply in people’s daily lives and how they are part of communication and understanding abstract concepts. The culture of an individual determines how and where they use different metaphors, especially in a bicultural society where they could be socially acceptable or unacceptable. Ontological metaphors serve various purposes and are used in conjunction with personification.
References
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. Metaphors we live by .
