Dead metaphors

[Christian Nelson]

A belated thanks for citing this useful article. Lakoff identifies four
different types of metaphors that have been labeled "dead metaphor." (He also
suggests that at best only one deserves the label, and appears to prefer the
label "conventional metaphor" for those metaphors he studies, but I think that
his preference are based on a particular understanding of the word "dead" that
I'm not sure has always been used by folks refering to "dead metaphors.")

Again, thanks,
Christian Nelson

Sonja L Launspach wrote:

> On Tue, 15 Feb 2000, Christian Kjaer Nelson wrote:
>
> > (Apologies for cross-posting)
> >
> > Anybody know of the origins of the term "dead metaphor"?
> >
>
> I don't know the origins of the term but Lakoff states in his article on
> dead metaphors that the term is a holdover from "a traditional folk theory
> of language". The article is _The Death of Dead Metaphors_ in Metaphor and
> Symbolic Activity 2(2) 1987 p143-147. The article discusses ways of
> defining the term dead metaphor or redefining its use in the light of
> newer perspectives on metaphor.
>
> Sonja Launspach
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Sonja Launspach
> Assistant Professor Linguistics
> Dept.of English & Philosophy
> Idaho State University
> Pocatello, ID 83209
> 208-236-2478
> fax:208-236-4472
> email: sllauns at isu.edu