Sunday, April 20, 2008
There is a theory that states that the mind thinks in metaphors. Metaphors are templates of thinking, and basically all new knowledge is understood "in terms of" something else. In "Metaphors we live by" (Lakoff & Johnson 1976), some of the metaphors listed were these (a severely incomplete list is given):
Happy is up; sad is down
(feeling up, boost the spirit, spirit rose, high spirit, lift the spirit, feeling down, depressed, low, falling into depression, spirit sinking)
Conscious is up; unconscious is down
(get up, wake up, i'm up, he rises early, fell asleep, dropped off to sleep, under hypnosis, sank into a comma)
Health and life are up; sickness and death are down
(peak of health, rose from the dead, top shape, fell ill, sinking fast, came down with the flu, health declining, dropped dead)
Having control or force is up; Being subject to control or force is down
(control over something, on top of the situation, in a siperior position, height of one's power, high command, upper echelon, rise to power, ranking above, under control, falling from power, power on the decline, social inferior, low on the totem pole)
More is up; Less is down
(number of X keeps going up, the numbers are high, income rose, output has gone down, number of errors is low, income fell, he is underage, turn the heat down)
Foreseeable future events are up (and ahead)
High status is up; Low status is down
(Lofty position; rise to the top; at the peak of his career; climbing the ladder; upward mobility; bottom of the social hierarchy; fell in status, etc)
Good is up; Bad is down
Virtue is up; Depravity is down
Rational is up; Emotional is down
Theories (and arguments) are buildings
Ideas are food
Ideas are people
Ideas are plants
Ideas are products
Ideas are commodities
Ideas are resources
Ideas are money
Ideas are fashions
(the idea went out of style years ago, XYZ is in these days, ABC is fashionable, old hat, outdated, new trends, old-fashioned, up-to-date, avant-garde thought, quite chic, no longer in vogue, XYZ craze)
Understanding is seeing; IDeas are light-sources; Discource is a light-medium
Love is a physical force (electromagnetic, graviational, etc)
Love is as patient
(sick relationship, strong, healthy marriage, marriage is dead, it can't be revived, marriage is on the mend, getting back on our feet, relationship is in good shape, listless relationship, relationship on its last legs, tired affair)
Love is madness
(i'm crazy about her, she drives me out of my mind, he raves about her, he's gone mad over her, i'm wild about X, i'm insane about her)
Love is magic
(she cast her spell on him, the magic is gone, i was spellbound, she had me hypnotized, he has me in a trance, i was entranced, i'm charmed, she is bewitching)
Love is war
(many conquests, fought for him, fled from her advances, pursued him relentlessly, gaining ground with her, won her hand, overpowered her, besieged by suitors, fending off advances, made an ally of her mother, misalliance)
Wealth is a hidden object
Significant is big
Seeing is touching; Eyes are limbs
The eyes are containers for the emotions
Emotional effect is physical contact
Physical and emotional states are entities within a person
Viatality is a subtance
Life is a container
Life is a gambling game
Time is a moving object
An argument is a journey
A journey defines a path
An argument defines a path
The path of a journey is a surface
An argument is a container
An argument is a building
An argument is a container
An instrument is a companion
(Example: I went to the movies with Sally, I sliced the salami with a knife; Accompaniment is instrumentality in nearly all languages of the world)
(you should get the whole book)
Happy is up; sad is down
(feeling up, boost the spirit, spirit rose, high spirit, lift the spirit, feeling down, depressed, low, falling into depression, spirit sinking)
Conscious is up; unconscious is down
(get up, wake up, i'm up, he rises early, fell asleep, dropped off to sleep, under hypnosis, sank into a comma)
Health and life are up; sickness and death are down
(peak of health, rose from the dead, top shape, fell ill, sinking fast, came down with the flu, health declining, dropped dead)
Having control or force is up; Being subject to control or force is down
(control over something, on top of the situation, in a siperior position, height of one's power, high command, upper echelon, rise to power, ranking above, under control, falling from power, power on the decline, social inferior, low on the totem pole)
More is up; Less is down
(number of X keeps going up, the numbers are high, income rose, output has gone down, number of errors is low, income fell, he is underage, turn the heat down)
Foreseeable future events are up (and ahead)
High status is up; Low status is down
(Lofty position; rise to the top; at the peak of his career; climbing the ladder; upward mobility; bottom of the social hierarchy; fell in status, etc)
Good is up; Bad is down
Virtue is up; Depravity is down
Rational is up; Emotional is down
Theories (and arguments) are buildings
Ideas are food
Ideas are people
Ideas are plants
Ideas are products
Ideas are commodities
Ideas are resources
Ideas are money
Ideas are fashions
(the idea went out of style years ago, XYZ is in these days, ABC is fashionable, old hat, outdated, new trends, old-fashioned, up-to-date, avant-garde thought, quite chic, no longer in vogue, XYZ craze)
Understanding is seeing; IDeas are light-sources; Discource is a light-medium
Love is a physical force (electromagnetic, graviational, etc)
Love is as patient
(sick relationship, strong, healthy marriage, marriage is dead, it can't be revived, marriage is on the mend, getting back on our feet, relationship is in good shape, listless relationship, relationship on its last legs, tired affair)
Love is madness
(i'm crazy about her, she drives me out of my mind, he raves about her, he's gone mad over her, i'm wild about X, i'm insane about her)
Love is magic
(she cast her spell on him, the magic is gone, i was spellbound, she had me hypnotized, he has me in a trance, i was entranced, i'm charmed, she is bewitching)
Love is war
(many conquests, fought for him, fled from her advances, pursued him relentlessly, gaining ground with her, won her hand, overpowered her, besieged by suitors, fending off advances, made an ally of her mother, misalliance)
Wealth is a hidden object
Significant is big
Seeing is touching; Eyes are limbs
The eyes are containers for the emotions
Emotional effect is physical contact
Physical and emotional states are entities within a person
Viatality is a subtance
Life is a container
Life is a gambling game
Time is a moving object
An argument is a journey
A journey defines a path
An argument defines a path
The path of a journey is a surface
An argument is a container
An argument is a building
An argument is a container
An instrument is a companion
(Example: I went to the movies with Sally, I sliced the salami with a knife; Accompaniment is instrumentality in nearly all languages of the world)
(you should get the whole book)
