• Lakoff + Johnson give several examples throughout the text of linguistic metaphorical systems. Are there any you found odd, outdated, or different from metaphorical systems that you use, either personally or in your language, culture, or social sphere? For instance, do you speak about conversation as battle, or use orientational metaphors the same way the authors describe?
I think most of the examples that Lakoff + Johnson clicked with me. I may not use all of them or be aware of them, but after reading them I could definitely see the connections between the different concepts described. There were a few that I thought were dated like “I’m feeling up today.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that, but the reverse is obviously very widely used (“I’m feeling down”).
•Can you identify a metaphorical system that you commonly use? What do you think is the motivating rationale (“experiential basis”) behind that system – or is there one? Have you ever intentionally (or unintentionally) changed the metaphorical system that you use to speak about a certain subject, to reflect a different experience or worldview?
This question is really tough. I feel like I was not aware of any of the ones presented by Lakoff + Johnson until they put them into words. One might be Right is right and Left is wrong. I think this comes from culture biases (being right handed is far more common) as well as the fact that right (direction) and right (correct) are homonyms. Examples would be “You’re right!” vs “That’s way out of left field.” It probably doesn’t work as well because of the whole homonym thing but it’s the only one I could think of.
•What metaphors/systems of metaphor are commonly used when discussing your topic? If “the essence of a metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (5), what other kinds of metaphors might be useful for discussing your topic, or an aspect of your topic?
I’m not quite sure. Borders are kind of like containers, so maybe I can use that in some way to illustrate the ways in which DMZs create a contained space for certain things to happen (like wildlife returning and thriving). Borders can also be separations, so that’s another way I might be able to use metaphor to get the theme across.