读书笔记

憋佬仔

I used to think metaphors were just a way of making your language a bit more colorful, a kind of linguistic decoration. Then I read George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's "Metaphors We Live By," and it blew my mind. Turns out, metaphors aren't just sprinkles on the cake of language; they're the very ingredients of the cake itself, the fundamental way we make sense of the world.
The central idea is simple but profound: metaphors aren't just in language, they're in our thoughts and actions. We understand abstract concepts by mapping them onto more concrete, embodied experiences. For example, we understand time as money – we "spend" time, "waste" time, "budget" our time. This isn't just a clever way of talking; it shapes how we actually perceive and interact with time. We feel the pressure of time running out, we try to "save" time, and we experience the "cost" of certain activities.
Lakoff and Johnson call these conceptual metaphors. They argue that these underlying metaphors structure our thinking, our language, and even our cultural values. Another powerful example is the metaphor of ARGUMENT IS WAR. We talk about "winning" an argument, "defending" our position, and "shooting down" opposing views. This language reveals a deeper metaphorical understanding of argument as a form of combat, which in turn influences how we approach disagreement.
The book is full of these "a-ha!" moments. You start seeing conceptual metaphors everywhere, from the mundane ("My computer is a machine") to the profound ("Life is a journey"). It's like putting on a new pair of glasses that lets you see the hidden patterns in language and thought.
What I found most fascinating is how these conceptual metaphors are rooted in our bodily experiences. We understand up-down, in-out, front-back not just as spatial relations but as conceptual building blocks. This is why we can understand "happy" as "up" (feeling uplifted) and "sad" as "down" (feeling low). Our physical existence in the world shapes our abstract thought in a fundamental way.
"Metaphors We Live By" isn't just an academic exercise; it has real-world implications. Understanding how metaphors work can help us communicate more effectively, challenge ingrained ways of thinking, and even understand political discourse. For example, the metaphor of the body as a machine has led to certain approaches to healthcare, while the metaphor of the mind as a computer has influenced how we think about consciousness.
In short, this book is a mind-expander. It shows us that metaphors aren't just how we talk, they're how we think and how we live. They are the tools we use to make sense of the world, to structure our experiences, and to communicate with each other. After reading it, you'll never look at language, or your own mind, the same way again. You'll start to see the hidden metaphors that govern our lives, and you might even start to question them. And that, I think, is the real power of this book. It's not just about metaphors; it's about how we make meaning.