• 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 Are there any you found odd, outdated, or different from metaphorical systems that you use, either personally or in your language, culture, or social sphere?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 resonate with Lakoff & Johnson’s linguistic metaphorical systems. In Chinese background, we use metaphor everywhere and it is an important part in Chinese language. We have the same metaphor which is “唇枪舌战” about conversation as battle. To translate, “唇” is lip; “枪” is spear; “舌” is tongue and “战” is battle. It assimilates lip and tongue as weapons, which more vividly display an intense debate. Besides, orientational metaphors are also been used frequently in Chinese language. For example, the most common slogan in Chinese school, “好好学习天天向上”, means study hard and make progress every day. The words “向上” represents going up, which means positive is up, negative is 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?

The metaphorical system I commonly use is the “copy” and “paste” operations on computer. For the logic behind this, the word copy means making a same object. On computer, I think the “copy” command’s function is pretty straight forward. It duplicates selected items.  For the paste word, it means stick something to something. On computer, the function of “paste” operation is putting copied items on a selected area. We can easily understand the function of “copy” and “paste” by just looking at the two operation names. I intentionally use the two words in real life context when I see two people have similar appearance or action. 

• 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?

When discussing my “quilting” topic, I would say connection may be the metaphor. For my understanding, connection means the relationship and link between two objects, peoples, communities, etc. The joint between two objects moved from physical one to transparent one(the connection of tradition and modern,  handicraft and mechanization，etc). For the other kinds of metaphors I would use bridge and gap as the metaphors which also demonstrate the connection and disconnection between different groups people, communities and social environment.

Q1: 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  “Time is money” might be different in some other culture. It is definitely a proper metaphor in modern western culture and also makes sense for people living in China now. However, in some religious countries, for example, Thailand or Bhutan, people values faith more than money. So maybe in their conceptual system, though time is valuable, there could be some other metaphors for time.

In ancient times in China, there are several metaphors for time – e.g: arrow, white horse and water.

Q2: 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?

When describing about life, I like to say that “life is a journey”. Because I believe that what really matters in life is to explore and experience. Sometimes, when the context is related to career or learning , I will unintentionally change the metaphorical system and say that “life is like a marathon.” I think the reason behind is that career and learning both implies competition, which makes me unconsciously associate life with marathon.

Q3: 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?

Regarding my topic of “Code of Arms”,  I will use identity as the metaphor. “Code of Arms” manifests the identity of the recognition or expectation of a family or institution. Speaking of other kinds of metaphors related to this topic, I think of inheritance and tradition.

• 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?

As a non-native speaker of English, I have two different language systems in my brain. For some sentences in English, I can understand it’s meaning but cannot translate them into Chinese directly. For example: “It’s difficult to put my ideas into words.” is a form we don’t use in Chinese. We usually say 只可意会不可言传 (can only be felt and understood in one’s heart but cannot be explained in words.) or 难以言喻 (beyond expression) to express the same meaning. In the phrase 难以言喻, 难 means hard, 以 equals “to, “言 means say/speak,  and 喻 means metaphor.

• 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?

I love to use metaphors in my daily life. Metaphors and analogies help to think and express myself a lot. I like to analog my thought into something that is world-wild consensus to break through the limits of language. When I answered the “Who are you outside of IMA Low Res?” I said,  “I am a star in the sky who wish to light the moon up.” This comes out from a fact: the sun light up the earth. The moon is usually neglected when compared to the sun. However, the moon also lights up the night silently. I want to be like the star around the moons in society to accompany them when they try their best to light up the night.

Also, in Chinese, there are 歇后语 (a two-part allegorical saying). In a 歇后语, the former part is a metaphor or metaphor, and the latter part is an interpretation of the meaning. It’s commonly used in my daily life. Here are some examples of 歇后语:

黄鼠狼给鸡拜年–不怀好意。 A weasel wishing Happy New Year to a chicken —  bad intentions

肉包子打狗–有去无回。 Chasing a dog by throwing meat dumplings at it — no return.

兔子尾巴长不了。 The tail of a rabbit — cannot be extended; won’t last long.

• 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?

This is the main difficulty I face when working on my topic: fenestra. Fenestra itself is used as a metaphor. The word initially meant window, but it’s now used for small openings on the bones, blood vessels, and insects’ wings. Fenestras are usually used for transporting molecules and balancing pressure. This makes me think about the underground water system,  funnels, sluices, and filter papers.

• 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?
  
  One metaphorical saying that has never quite clicked in my brain is when someone says “shoot”, and they mean “go for it”, like Lakoff and Johnson mention, “You disagree? Okay, shoot!“. Though this is a pretty common phrase in English, and in my culture, my brain usually interprets the word “shoot” as a euphemism for “shit”.  So my first instinct is to understand the person as saying, “shit, you disagree with me”, rather than the intended meaning of, “okay, you disagree with me, let’s hear your argument”.
• 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 is so hard to identify! I usually don’t know when I speak in common metaphors and idioms until I’m speaking with someone who English isn’t their first language – because I recognize that English has a lot of idioms that don’t make much sense when taken literally. But trying to come up with something on my own is difficult!One system I have been able to identify is “north is up or straight ahead” and I think this is mostly because when looking at a map, North is usually oriented at the top. This has some cascading implications that “south is down or behind”, “west is left”, “east is right”. This obviously gets tricky, and becomes untrue when I am not in fact facing north. Furthermore, I realize that I internally think of specific places as being up, down, left or right from my current location, or possibly from where I grew up. For example, even if I were always facing north, when I think of “the west coast”, I often envision a place that is to my left. But, this is very dependent on where I am, and which “west coast” we’re talking about. The west coast of Ireland for example is actually to the east of me, and is “to the right”. So in this case west is not left.

• 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? 

  The term “colonial organism” itself could be part of a system of metaphors. It is using a human-centric idea of colonies and applying that to organisms as a way for humans to understand how they live and survive. But the organisms themselves likely don’t have any concept that their way of living, and being dependent on one another for life is “different” in any way. Scientists also seem to use the term “kin” or “kinship” when talking about microorganisms that are genetically similar, and use this metaphor to understand how the interact with organisms that are genetically different. This has become especially interesting to me since talking with Margaret about slime mold – she mentioned that science doesn’t know if the slime mold amoebas even “care” that their neighbors are kin or not. Based on their behavior of self-sacrificing in order for others to survive, it is unknown if this is done because they are competing with those that are different, of if they are just cooperating to that life can continue. Humans use a human-centric metaphor system when looking at anything that is not human as a way to understand their biology, behavior, relationships, etc. And though that metaphor system makes sense, since it is a way to compare, it is not always accurate.

One metaphor that Lakoff and Johnson discussed, “time is money,” initially struck me as a little off, or not as universal in my culture as the others. My first reaction was to think “yeah, we say that sometimes, but it’s more about time being a limited resource.” When I turned the page to see “time is a limited resource,” I laughed. I didn’t even think of how closely related “time is money” and “time is a limited resource” really are, and how money, resources, and value are employed in metaphors all over our language. So many of these — “happy is up,” “future is forward/up” — feel so fundamental that it almost doesn’t feel like a metaphor. It FEELS like happy IS up. And I think that’s the point. The feeling of things impacting our language and understanding is powerful — and can also be limiting.

One metaphorical system that is commonly used amongst my friend group is that of pets being children. We refer to them as “fur babies,” dogs go to “doggie daycare,” fancy or expensive kennels are “spas” or “camp.” I think the motivating rationale for this is that many of us do NOT have kids yet, but we do have this special bond with our pets, and we need to take care of them. The deep love, connection, responsibility, and other mix of feelings motivates this connection.

I think that one of the ways that I have somewhat intentionally changed the metaphorical system that I use is when speaking out things and about groups of people as gendered. It is common to hear “she’s a beaut” when talking about things like cars or boats or other objects that one is excited about. This is starting to feel really dated though, and gets into an objectification of women/women as objects system that is deeply problematic. I’m also trying to be more aware of gendered terms for people that are not as inclusive as I’d like to be, like “guys.”

Gardens are commonly discussed as paradise, oases, natural, peaceful, and purity. But sometimes gardens are serious drains on the environment. Some gardens actually decrease biodiversity and encourage the spread of invasive species. They are sometimes far from the “natural” landscape. It might be useful to consider plants inhabitants.