Metaphors are often instantaneous, subconscious thoughts that spark in our minds on point. In “Metaphors We Live By”, by Lakoff and Johnson, the authors shine a light on the concept of metaphors, and bring to mind many realities that are usually thoughtless in language. A metaphor, simply, is a figure of speech in which one word, not predominantly expressed in that fashion, is used in place of another to suggest a comparison between the two, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Common metaphors found in everyday life might be ‘it’s raining buckets’ or ‘you’re a late bloomer.’ However, metaphors are also entrenched in our culture. We use metaphors automatically to better understand structural concepts of life. Concepts such as arguing are metaphorically structured in our minds; we think of arguing in a very similar way we think of war, and therefore we arrive at the linguistic “Argument is War.” We even view time as a metaphor, Lankoff and Johnson prove, as we regard time in terms of giving, spending and saving. However, this system does not always run smoothly, as there are many occasions where comparing time to money, or argument to war, would not seem fit, the authors rightfully claim. Thus, metaphorical concepts are tricky, sometimes they fit like a master key, other times they can seem like someone brought a baseball to a hockey game.
Like other concepts, language to us in the industrialized Western world is viewed as one big metaphorical concept. I’ll try to get that point across another way. Language also has that subtle message attached, like it is the messenger. At least that is how it is viewed in our brains. Overall, I completely agree with the authors in their claim that metaphorical concepts can fit in the majority of our concepts that we hold, yet not in all instances, and I agree that some times we need alternative context to fully understand the message.
Unless I’m incorrect, many languages contain metaphors–not only in the industrialized Western world as you say. As Lakoff and Johnson said, metaphors are “tied to our culture” (9). Therefore, wouldn’t it be strange if only the industrialized Western world contains metaphors in their languages? I think it would be more correct to say that the many different metaphors that exist in various languages came about due to culture.
I wrote “Like other concepts…”
As a speaker of 4 languages (Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi and English) I can confirm that it is not only English that contains metaphors. One of the most interesting aspects about this reading was that it opened up my mind to the variety of metaphors I use when I speak not only in English but in Punjabi and Urdu. I agreed with many of the aspects that Lakoff and Johnson described and I personally relate it in my life.
On the contrary, I think that metaphors are conditionally instantaneous. The reason we come up with these metaphors is for ease of translation or explanation. We use a metaphor as a shortcut to explaining our thoughts. I believe that metaphors are not often instantaneous at first because it is not common nature to just replace words with other similar concepts. As we, and the people around us, i.e. our culture, get more accustomed to the replacements of words then, and only then, these metaphorical shortcuts become more often due to us training our brain to instantaneously interchange certain words and terms with each other.