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Metaphors We Live By - George Lakoff, Mark Johnson It's a linguistics focused book that suggests people use metaphor to understand abstract constructs. It also
by sambroner 6y ago
Metaphors We Live By - George Lakoff, Mark Johnson
It's a linguistics focused book that suggests people use metaphor to understand abstract constructs. It also helped me understand people, conversation, and intent in an especially eye opening way.
- dccoolgai 6y agoDarmok and Jalad at Tanagra
- sradman 6y agoInteresting. Metaphors We Live By is near the top of my list of theories that were once a popular mainstream meme that dramatically crashed and burned when applied in the real world. The Democratic Party's embrace of Don't Think of an Elephant did not go well. My memory might be flawed, it usually is.
- sambroner 6y agoI'm not old enough to have been aware of the rise and fall of the mainstream movement, very interesting! I am possibly just finding the first look into the theory as tantalizing as everyone else did.
- sradman 6y agoExcellent. If I remember correctly, the linguists sorted into two opposing camps, Lakoff/Johnson on one side, Pinker/Chomsky on the other. The Pinker argument is that the metaphor aspect is only important during the short period of time when we are first introduced to a new term. Once the term enters our vocabulary, it takes its own unique slot in our minds that is independent of the word origins. Our minds do not have trouble distinguishing between cordless, cellular, and wireless phones once the terms are familiar to us. I'm sure you can find much greater insight than I can provide with a few web searches.
- sambroner 6y agoThank you. That's a great intro.