Senior teacher, Foreign Senior teacher, Foreign languages departmentlanguages department

Business Metaphors in Action

Talgat MyrzakhanovTalgat Myrzakhanov

6 February, 20156 February, 2015

What is a metaphor?What is a metaphor?

Traditionally, scholars regarded metaphors as a linguistic phenomenon and defined it as a figure of speech in which an implicit comparison is made between two unlike entities.

From this traditional perspective, the metaphor expresses the unfamiliar through the familiar.

The study of metaphors was restricted mostly to literature and rhetoric, its role being primarily decorative and ornamental.

The poem “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth clearly illustrates this linguistic phenomenon.

I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.The waves beside them danced; but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,In such a jocund company:I gazed--and gazed--but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

Why do metaphors Why do metaphors matter?matter?

“Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature”. (Lakoff, 1980: 4)

•In 1980 J. Lakoff and M. Johnson developed quite a new theory that has become known as the cognitive view of the metaphor (conceptual metaphor).

•According to this new approach, the metaphor is defined as a cognitive mechanism whereby one conceptual domain is partially mapped onto a different conceptual domain, the second domain being partially understood in terms of the first one.

•The domain that is mapped is called the source and the domain onto which it is mapped is called the target.

How many business metaphors do you know?

black

in the

red

in the

red

white

pink

blue

green

•black

• herring

•light

•slip

•list

•chip

•elephan

t

• red

•belt

•tape

green

Well, you have clustered 10 color business metaphors.

black list

in the black

red tape

in the red

red herring

white elephant

pink slip

blue chip

green light

green belt

Explain the meanings of the terms in bold.

1. McGuinty has promised not to increase taxes and to keep the province's finances in the black.

2. He wanted to discuss the long-term prospects of some of the blue chip companies.

3. PREDICTION: Johnny's anti-American attitude puts him on Hollywood's blacklist (unofficially, of course).

4. He looked at the passport as if it were his dismissal pink slip.

5. The company has filed a draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

6. Most observers believe the paper is in the red or close to it.

7. There's no green light to raise income taxes or the retail sales tax now.

8. Without these guarantees and subsidy it will be near impossible to manage the white elephant at least in the short-term.

9. All that's left now is to develop the green belt and Gawler will be another overcrowded suburb.

10. Mr Darling promised to cut pension red tape in an effort to encourage more people to save for retirement.

black list in the black in the red red herring red tape

green light green belt white elephant white elephant pink slip pink slip blue chipblue chip

1. ………………………………: in debit; owing money

2. ………………………………: not owing any money; solvent

3. ………………………………: permission or authorization to proceed with a project

4. ………………………………: a list of people or products viewed with suspicion or disapproval

5. ………………………………: a clue or piece of information which is or is intended to be misleading or

distracting

6. …………………………….: a notice of dismissal given to an employee

7. ……………………………………: any investment that nobody wants because it will most likely end up being

unprofitable

8. ……………………………………: a nationally recognized, well-established and financially sound company

9. ……………………….………….: an area of open land around a city, on which building is restricted

10. …………………………………: excessive bureaucracy or adherence to official rules and formalities

Match the terms to their definitions.Match the terms to their definitions.

Do you know these animal business metaphors?

bear

bull

sheep

stag

bellwether

cash cow

lame duck

gadfly

loan shark

fat cat

Explain the meanings of the terms in bold.

1. The strip now appears in a record 2,750 papers, and the fat cat is the centre of a multimillion-dollar line of merchandise.

2. The residents of Winchcombe accuse the society gadfly of ruining the town in his attempts to make Sudeley Castle commercially attractive.

3. In tape-recorded conversations, Clark told Duffy he was in a dire financial situation and on the verge of going to a loan shark.

4. The banks regard the sector as a cash cow and behave in a way that prevents many individuals starting their own businesses.

5. Experts said the failure was likely due to a poorly run operation and was not an industry bellwether.

6. Two things governors hear often during their final year in office: legacy and lame duck.

7. Bulls believe the US economy is beginning to pick up.

8. The bears are driven by bad economic news from Japan, such as July's 2.4% monthly slump in industrial production.

9. No one had expected the share offer to be a high stag stock.

bull bear sheep lame duck loan shark cash cow fat cat stag gadfly bellwether

1. ……………………………..: a person who buys shares hoping to sell them at a higher price later. 2. ……………………………..: a person who applies for shares in new issues in the hope that the price when

trading begins will be higher than the issue price. 3. ……………………………..: a person who sells shares hoping to buy them back later at a lower price. 4. ……………………………..: an investor who lacks a focused trading strategy and trades on emotion and the

suggestions of others. 5. ……………………………..: a product or investment that steadily continues to be profitable. 6. ……………………………..: an investor who attends the annual shareholders meeting to criticize the

corporation's executives. 7. ……………………………..: moneylender who charges extremely high rates of interest, typically under illegal

conditions. 8. ……………………………..: a wealthy and powerful person, especially a businessman or politician. 9. ……………………………..: anything suggesting the general tendency or direction of events, style, etc. 10. …………………………...: a politician or administration in the final period of office, after the election of a

successor.

Match the terms to their definitions.Match the terms to their definitions.

National–specifics

Business metaphors

Colors

Clothing

Plants, flowers, trees

Food

Medicine

Family

Religion

Human body

Fairy-tales & Myths

Animals

Mind Mapping of Business Metaphors Mind Mapping of Business Metaphors

Food metaphors

carrot equity – reward and punishment as methods of persuasion

Fairy-tales metaphors

Sleeping Beauty – a company that is considered prime for takeover, but has not yet been approached by an acquiring company.

Animal metaphors

cash cow – a business, investment, or product that provides a steady income or profit

Color metaphors

green belt – an area of open land around a city, on which building is restricted

Family metaphors

mom-and pop – a small shop of a type often run by a married couple

Sport metaphors

front running – the generally illegal practice by brokers or intermediaries of dealing on advance information provided by their brokers and investment analysis department, before their clients have been given the information.

Medicine metaphors

poison pill – a tactic used by a company threatened with an unwelcome takeover bid to make itself unattractive to the bidder

Clothing metaphors

belt and suspenders – double security by using two means

Nationally specified metaphors

Gnomes of Zurich – Swiss bankers and financiers, alluding to their secrecy and speculative activity

Religion metaphors

sin tax – a tax on items such as alcohol or tobacco