Metaphors We Live By

Author: George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
Genre: nonfiction
Publication info: University of Chicago Press, 2003 (originally published in 1980)
Pages: 276

I'm a nerd. I admit it. Reading this book began as an assignment for an English semantics class I'm taking. My professor asked us just to skim it; she had it on course reserve for us at the library. But I live a fair distance from campus and knew I wouldn't have much time to spend at the library, plus I was interested in the book, so, well, I bought it. And then, after reading the first few chapters in preparation for the class discussion, I went ahead and read the whole thing. And I liked it. There you go. I'm a nerd.

But seriously, this book provides some fascinating insights into our language and ways of thinking. Lakoff is a professor of linguistics and Johnson a professor of philosophy, and when they published this book, apparently they shook up their fields quite a bit. They caused people to take metaphor more seriously---not just as a feature of lyrical language but also as concepts by which we view the world.

The first several chapters are the most interesting. They talk about metaphors that are pervasive in our language and that I had no idea were actually metaphors. For example, many of us might use expressions like the following, under the general metaphor argument is war (and I quote):

• Your claims are indefensible.
• He attacked every weak point in my argument.
• Her criticisms were right on target.
• I demolished his argument.
• I've never won an argument with him.
• You disagree? Okay, shoot!
• If you use that strategy, he'll wipe you out.
• He shot down all of my arguments.

Those are just a few of the examples they list, and if you're like me, you probably never thought of those as metaphorical before. But they are, because verbal argument is not the same as physical combat. However, the big point Lakoff and Johnson are making is that not only do we describe argument metaphorically as war, but we think about it and structure it like war. If that doesn't make sense, read the book; they explain it much better.

Later on in the book the authors depart from specific metaphors and go on to discuss the role of metaphors in our understanding of truth. It gets philosophical and rather abstract, and thus it's a little harder to get through. Philosophy isn't really my thing because it tends to get so abstract, but that doesn't mean I think it's never worthwhile. However, this book is pretty dense reading, and by the end I was eager to move on to other things. If I had been more willing to to give it more time, I'm sure I would have gained a lot more from reading it.

If you're interested in linguistics, philosophy, or cognitive psychology (I think that's what it's called), give this book a shot. If anything, it makes you look at things a little differently---things that are part of your everyday life.

If you don't believe me, go back and see how many metaphors I've used in this review. I used at least one in the last sentence.