Metaphors We Live By
“The Metaphors We Live By” by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson highlight the fact that metaphors are used in our everyday lives more often than we think. There are already thousands of metaphors integrated within our everyday speech that we might not have even realized. Metaphors are figures of speech or phrases used to allude to some other idea or action as a comparison. For example, the phrase “time is money” is used as a comparison to make the correlation that time is a valuable resource. One can make the connection that wasting time is essentially the same as wasting money. In our capitalistic society, there is a lot of importance placed on the value of money so making the connection between time and money can serve to be helpful in understanding the importance of time as well. Another example is the metaphor that “argument is war”. When one thinks of war, the image of soldiers, death, and fighting usually comes to mind. However, an argument is not a literal war. Instead, it is a representation of one in the verbal sense. Comparing an argument to war in a metaphor will serve to give the same sense of meaning. Although there is no physical battle, there are still attacks, defenses, and counterattacks.
The Egg and The Sperm
“The Egg and The Sperm” by Emily Martin sheds light on gender stereotypes hidden within certain vocabulary used when discussing the sexual reproduction system. When discussing the sperm, stronger words are used to showcase the sperm as the superior reproductive organ. However, when discussing the egg, softer language is used to portray it as the inferior reproductive organ. This use of language indirectly serves to support the gender stereotype that men are naturally superior to women. Especially since these terms are used to describe a natural part of our anatomy. One would think that the simple act of the sperm meeting the egg was a neutral interaction, devoid of any masculine or feminine action. But phrases such as the sperm “rescuing” the egg seem to suggest otherwise. These subtle descriptions pointed out by Emily Martin were eye openers for me because one would expect the scientific community to remain professional but instead, they indirectly uplifted gender stereotypes within their writings.
Connections
One connection between “The Metaphors We Live By” by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson and “The Egg and The Sperm” by Emily Martin is their use of metaphors within their writing. In “The Metaphors We Live By”, metaphors were analyzed and used as examples to explain to the audience the importance of metaphors within our speech and how often we use them without realizing it. In “The Egg and The Sperm”, metaphors were analyzed in explaining to the audience the gender stereotyping that occurs when using certain metaphors to describe certain procedures within the sexual reproductive system.