Re: metaphor and talking across skill levels

Posted by Jochen Fromm-5 on Mar 09, 2015; 7:21pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/metaphor-and-talking-across-skill-levels-tp7586111p7586114.html

Speaking of metaphors: recently I thought that metaphors and poems are a bit like the gems of language. As you know gems are rare and valuable and have often a highly symmetrical structure. The rhymes in poems mirror the symmetries of words, while metaphors and analogies mirror the (timeless) symmetries of ideas. 

Take for example the metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY. I think this is one of the metaphors in "Metaphors We Live By" from George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. It indicates certain similarities and symmetries in the ideas behind the concepts for "life" and "journey". There is a beginning and an end connected by long winding path, etc. So basically metaphors are all about symmetries which let you describe one idea in terms of another. 

-J.

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