October 1, 2012

The Significance of DJ Flula, And Why Metaphors Are Not Universal

The idea of metaphors as a necessity in our lives is something that I had not given much thought to prior to our reading of "Metaphors We Live By" by Lakoff and Johnson. However, after reading this, I more fully understand the significance of DJ Flula, and what his video reveals about American society. The video we watched in class brings up an important idea: that many of the metaphors we use in our culture are not present in other countries. Lakoff and Johnson also mention this in the line,

"TIME IS MONEY, TIME IS A LIMITED RESOURCE, and TIME IS A VALUABLE      COMMODITY are all metaphorical concepts. They are metaphorical since we are using our everyday experiences with money, limited resources, and valuable commodities to conceptualize time. This isn't a necessary way for human beings to conceptualize time; it is tied to our culture. There are cultures where time is none of these things" (Lakoff & Johnson).

This begs the question, why are metaphors so much more present in one culture than another? And what does this mean about the way we communicate and the way we view language? I think that these metaphors may have started simply as a way to express ones self, and from there blossomed into a commonality that is present in the vocabulary of many in our society. These metaphors certainly help us understand language, as well as encourage critical thinking within our culture.

1 comment:

Karlyn Mckell said...

I agree with your analysis on "Metaphors We Live By" and find it interesting that you brought up how we use metaphors a lot in our culture, and what does this say about us. I am taking French 3 anyone thing I have noticed is that their language is much simpler and straight to the point than English. This could be because I am just learning the basics, as I am nowhere close to being fluent,but I do think it also has to do with our cultures. I think that in our culture, metaphors have become such an important way in how we communicate and also as Inspiratinal tools and incentives. They also help highlight what is important in a specific culture-- money metaphors in America, for example, are plentiful. In a culture that trades more than uses "money", these metaphors would of course not inspire and mean very little.

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