This article by David Brooks in today’s New York Times is interesting to me, as I work with conversation as a metaphor for instruction.  Brooks quotes Lakoff, who I was reading last night.  Brooks writes that:

In his fine new book, “I Is an Other,” James Geary reports on linguistic research suggesting that people use a metaphor every 10 to 25 words. Metaphors are not rhetorical frills at the edge of how we think, Geary writes. They are at the very heart of it.

I Is an Other sounds interesting, too.  Wish I had time to read it now (but alas, the end of the term is upon me).

Brooks discusses the way in which particular metaphors pervade different subjects: health for relationships, food for ideas, war for arguments.  When we were involved in the legal battle over Rachel’s adoption, Taylor commented to me just how frequently our lawyer used war terminology. Guess his profession is one filled with fighting metaphors!

References:

Brooks, David. “Poetry for Everyday Life.” The New York Times. 12 April 2011.