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ZOLTÁN KÖVECSES
Metaphor and ideology in slang:
the case of WOMAN and MAN
Notre étude cherche à savoir si dans l’argot anglo-américain la
conceptualisation de la FEMME est différente de celle de l’HOMME. La
principale question qui se pose est la suivante : étant donné que l’argot est
typiquement un langage d’hommes, la conceptualisation de la femme dans
l’argot anglo-américain témoigne-t-elle de certains préjugés partagés par les
hommes ? Nous avons effectué l’analyse métaphorique de plusieurs centaines
d’éléments argotiques anglais relatifs aux deux notions, et nous avons
découvert que la femme y est plus souvent que l’homme conceptualisée en tant
que MARCHANDISE, NOURRITURE APPÉTISSANTE ou ANIMAL, ce qui
s’explique par l’intérêt que portent les hommes aux femmes en tant qu’objets
sexuels.
We can think of ideology as dominant discourse about a socially-culturally
important subject matter that provides us with a particular perspective on that
subject matter and also on other related subject matters. I will use the concepts
of WOMAN and MAN in (American) English slang to demonstrate one way of
dealing with the study of the ideology connected with the subject matter of
woman and man. Speakers of English slang talk a lot about the related concepts
of WOMAN and MAN, and, as we will see, the way they talk about them
reflects a particular ideology about them. This topic is particularly interesting in
light of the commonly heard claim that males (and most speakers of English
slang are males) have an ideologically biased view of women. Slang seems to
be an especially suitable domain of language for this purpose, since speakers of
slang are mostly men (moreover, macho men) who are commonly regarded as
having extreme views and negative biases against women, as well as ethnic
groups, homosexuals, fat people and short people, to name just a few cases. I
wish to see whether this is true by examining the ideologies about women and
men. Specifically, I want to explore the issue of what these ideologies about
women and men consist of in detail, and whether and to what extent the
ideologies we find for women and men, respectively, are different or the same.
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Hopefully, a detailed comparison will allow us to throw some light on these
issues.
The methodology I will employ for this purpose consists of some of the
analytic tools of cognitive linguistics, in particular, conceptual metaphor and
metonymy. (On these, see LAKOFF & JOHNSON 1980; KÖVECSES 2002,
2005, 2006.) Altogether, 245 words for women and 95 (American) English
slang words for men have been examined. I collected these data from several
American English slang dictionaries (CHAPMAN 1989; BERREY & VAN
DEN BARK 1947). In addition, I used Jonathon Green’s book, Slang Down the
Ages (GREEN 2005), which is very similar in spirit to the present study,
although it does not use the tools of cognitive linguistics. A large part of what
both he does and I do is to unravel the images (in my terms, the conceptual
metaphors) that speakers of slang have used to talk and think about women and
men. I suggest that such images, or metaphors, are crucial in understanding the
ideologies, the kinds of discourses we employ when we deal with the subject
matter of women and men.
I readily admit at the outset that there are several problems with such a
methodology in the study of ideology. The first problem is that my study is
based on individual words and not on coherent discourses used by real people in
a real historical-cultural setting. That is, my study is ahistorical and acultural in
the sense that it works with isolated slang words that have been produced in
(American) English culture in roughly the past fifty to one hundred years (i.e.,
no specific period and no specific cultural setting is provided). The second
problem is that even in this vague general period and cultural setting many more
than 300 or 400 words have been coined, but, in this study, I only work with the
300 or 400 words that lend themselves to the type of analysis (metaphor and
metonymy analysis) that I am reasonably competent at. I leave out of
consideration all other terms.
Despite these shortcomings, my hope is that I can bring to the surface ideas
that form a significant part of the ideologies about women and men and that
could not be unearthed with more traditional ways of studying ideology. More
specifically, I will suggest that there are four groups of images, or metaphorical
source domains, that seem to dominate the conceptualization of women and
men in (American) English slang. They are THING, FOOD, ANIMAL, and
KINSHIP (RELATIVES). A fifth group of terms is based on the social
stereotypes speakers have of women and men. The analysis below is structured
by these five sets of concepts.
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Women and men as THING
Women and men are both conceptualized as thing. Things can be either
objects or substances. Both women and men are seen as things, while only
women are substances. The particular examples are as follows:
WOMEN ARE OBJECTS/SUBSTANCES
she-thing; sweet stuff; sweet thing
MEN ARE OBJECTS
he-thing
Objects include a variety of kinds. The kinds that appear in the
conceptualization of women in slang are commodities and playthings. It is only
women who are conceptualized as such commodities as article, goods, and
merchandise:
WOMEN ARE COMMODITIES
article; dress goods; package; piece of dry goods; piece of goods; piece of merchandise
It is also only women who are viewed as playthings:
WOMEN ARE PLAYTHINGS
doll/dollie/dolly; gadget; job; toy; plaything
It is debatable whether a slang term such as gadget should be classified as a
commodity or a plaything; it fits both.
The metaphorical conceptualization of women as commodities assumes the
existence of some other more general conceptual metaphors that have to do with
life and/or human relationships. If women are commodities, then men must be
the people who buy such commodities:
HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS ARE BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS
WOMEN ARE COMMODITIES/PRODUCTS
MEN ARE CUSTOMERS
customer
In the situation created by the metaphor, men as customers buy women as
commodities, or products. The commodification metaphor may have started out
as a literal understanding of women as commodities, but for a long time now it
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has been functioning as a major metaphor that, in slang, led to the
conceptualization of women in general as prostitutes.
Speakers of slang seem to make an all-important distinction in their social
relationship to women and men: it is that of respect versus disrespect. The
disrespect socially felt (or imposed) for any inferior social position in which
women are found is used to express one’s disrespect for women:
WOMEN ARE PROSTITUTES
floozy; sailor bait; tart; whore; zosh
WOMEN ARE FEMALE SERVANTS
wench
WOMEN ARE WITCHES
witch
Prostitutes, servants, and witches are, and have probably always been,
stigmatized social positions. As a result, these inferior social positions are good
source domains for the expression of disrespect toward women.
The male equivalent for the expression of the same idea occurs via the
equally stigmatized notion of being an illegitimate son:
MEN ARE ILLEGITIMATE SONS
mother’s son; son of a bee; son of a bitch; son of a gun; son of a so-and-so; sumbitch
By contrast, respectful relationships to women and men are expressed by
means of further conceptual metaphors:
WOMEN ARE GENTLEWOMEN (SOCIALLY PRESTIGIOUS WOMEN)
dame; damn-sel; gentledame; lady (any woman); ma’am; marm; milady; miss; missie; missis;
missiz
MEN ARE SUPERIORS (SOCIALLY IMPORTANT MEN)
boss; chief; codger; gent; gentman; mister; wallah
Respectful relationships to women are expressed through a subcategory of
women, gentlewomen, who must have been historically respected even by
speakers of slang. Respect toward men derives from metaphorically conceiving
all men with the respect one (must have historically) had for one’s superior.
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We find some metaphors (or metonymies) in which men are understood in
terms of a group or subcategory of men. Two such subcategories can be readily
identified:
MEN ARE MALE CITY DWELLERS (MALE CITY DWELLERS FOR MEN)
dude
MEN ARE MALE ATHLETES (MALE ATHLETES FOR ALL MEN)
jock
For speakers who do not have a respectful attitude to these groups, these
designations for men indicate disrespect. In this sense, the basis of the
metaphors (metonymies) is what the intention of the speaker is. If it is the
expression of disrespect, he will choose a subcategory (male city dwellers or
athletes) to which speakers have a conventionally negative attitude.
Overall, it seems that while both women and men are viewed metaphorically
as things, the metaphorical view of women as commodities have been taken
further in (American) English slang. The commodification metaphor is based on
the “ancient institution” of prostitution. In all likelihood, it is the disrespect felt
in society toward prostitutes that prompts the use of the metaphor WOMEN
ARE PROSTITUTES. The same applies to MEN ARE ILLEGITIMATE
SONS. In general, many slang words for women and men may have emerged as
a result of transferring to women and men the disrespect felt for specific groups
of women and men.
Women and men as FOOD
One of the most productive ways of conceptualizing people in slang in
English (but probably also universally) is to consider them as food. In general,
both women and men are viewed as food:
WOMEN ARE FOOD
dish
MEN ARE FOOD
dish; hunk of man; meat
As can be seen, the food is typically meat.
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However, it is mostly women whose conceptualization as food receives
considerable elaboration; thus, women can be white meat, dark meat, and
appetizing food:
WOMEN ARE WHITE MEAT TO EAT
chunk of (white) meat; piece of (white) meat; tuna; white meat
WOMEN ARE DARK MEAT TO EAT
cunt meat; hunk of woman
When the food is appetizing food, its appetizing character derives from its
being sweet:
WOMEN ARE APPETIZING (SWEET) FOOD
buttercup; cookie; cream puff; honey; honey-bun; honey-bunny; puff; sugar cookie; sugar;
sweet; sweet mama; sweet meat; sweet momma; sweet patootie; sweet stuff; sweet thing;
sweetheart; sweets; sweetums
In nonslang usage, some of these terms, such as sugar and sweetheart, are
used of men also.
This conceptualization of women and men chiefly occurs when they both are
considered for sexual purposes. The relationship of sexuality that exists between
women and men is perhaps the main and most productive perspective from
which men think and talk about women. The conceptual metaphor that underlies
many of the examples above is SEX IS EATING, where the object of sex is
FOOD. The SEX IS EATING and THE OBJECT OF SEX IS FOOD metaphors
combine with the metaphor of SEXUAL DESIRE/LUST IS HUNGER, where
the object of hunger is again APPETIZING FOOD (LAKOFF 1987). These
metaphors led to the conceptualization of women as appetizing food. The
perspective of sexuality will be discussed further in several sections below.
Women and men as ANIMAL
In slang, both women and men are conceived as animals at a very general
level. According to my sources, the word animal can be used of both women
and men:
WOMEN ARE ANIMALS
animal
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MEN ARE ANIMALS
animal
As can be expected, women are viewed as female animals, while men are
male ones:
WOMEN ARE FEMALE ANIMALS
cow; mare
MEN ARE MALE ANIMALS
dog; fish (esp. strange or foolish); horse; stag; stud
In addition to the obvious literal similarity between female animals and
women, on the one hand, and male animals and men, on the other, the
motivation for the use of these terms is provided by the sexual perspective that
characterizes the relationship between women and men. It is especially the
assumed hypersexuality of the male animals that in all probability contributes to
their selection as terms for men.
It is again women as animals who receive considerable further elaboration.
Thus, women are young animals, furry animals, and they are birds:
WOMEN ARE YOUNG FEMALE MAMMALS
filly; heifer
WOMEN ARE SMALL FURRY ANIMALS
bunny; kitten; mouse; pet; pussycat
WOMEN ARE BIRDS
biddy; bird GB; canary; chick; chickabiddy; chickadee; chicken; chicky; duckling; fuss and
feathers; grouse; hen; pigeon; quail; wren
The conceptualization of women as birds is probably universal. The
metaphor, together with the other two cases above, may be based on the
perceived similarity between these animals and the female sexual organ (hair,
softness, featheriness, etc.).
In another group of animal metaphors that involve women and men, it is not
the sexual act itself or the sexual desire that underlies metaphorical
conceptualization but the finding of available sexual partners. The finding of
such partners is conceptualized as hunting, resulting in the SEX IS HUNTING
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metaphor. In this metaphor, men are the hunters and women are the hunted. The
word cat fits this particular metaphor, in that a cat hunts for its prey (like a
mouse).
In general, the WOMEN ARE YOUNG SMALL ANIMALS metaphor
appears to be motivated by the feelings of caring and affection felt for such
animals. In most cases, it is the caring, protectiveness, and affection felt for
women by men that calls forth this metaphor and thus explains the terms used
by men.
Women and men as KINSHIP (RELATIVES)
As we would expect, women and men are metaphorically viewed as female
and male relatives, respectively. More specifically, women are conceptualized
as mothers and sisters, while men as fathers and brothers.
WOMEN ARE MOTHERS
mama/mamma; momma; mommer
WOMEN ARE SISTERS
sis/siss; sister
MEN ARE FATHERS
daddy; daddy-o
MEN ARE BROTHERS
brother
The SISTER and BROTHER metaphors are predominantly used for the
expression of solidarity in Black slang, but can also be used by whites.
The MOTHER and FATHER metaphors can express a variety of feelings or
attitudes to women and men, depending on context. They can be used to convey
either respect (or disrespect), or affection, or a combination of these. This
situational variation is possible because speakers can foreground several distinct
feelings or attitudes in connection with the categories of MOTHER and
FATHER. The WOMEN ARE MOTHERS and the MEN ARE FATHERS
metaphors can indicate respect for women and men, since respect for other
women and men may derive from the respect one feels for one’s parents. But
these source domains for women and men can also highlight the age of one’s
parents, and old age, as we’ll see shortly below, is typically used to express
disrespect. At the same time, the feeling of affection one typically feels for
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one’s parents can be utilized by speakers of slang to indicate affection for other
women and men. In the examples any combination of respect, disrespect, and
affection is imaginable.
How can old age indicate disrespect, or at least a lack of respect? It appears
that speakers of slang divide up the world into “too old”, “too young”, and a
category in between, where the speaker typically situates himself (rarely,
herself). Being too old or too young are categories that are undeserving of
respect in slang (unless mothers and fathers are involved) because people who
are too old or too young cannot fully participate in many of the activities that
members of the in-between category can participate in. In other words, it is not
only the “too old” who may be used to express disrespect for women and men
but also the “too young”. All of the conceptual metaphors below can indicate
the speaker’s disrespect for the other in one way or another:
WOMEN ARE CHILDREN/INFANTS
babe; baby doll; baby; daughter; girl; girlie/girly; sweet baby
MEN ARE CHILDREN/INFANTS
boy; kid
WOMEN ARE OLD WOMEN
old girl
WOMEN ARE YOUNG WOMEN
baby; doll; girl
MEN ARE OLD MEN
geezer (odd or eccentric person, esp. old); old bean; old boy; old chap; old cock; old fella; old
guy; old horse; old sock; old top
MEN ARE YOUNG MEN
big boy; boy; lad
However, being too old or too young (as in the case of children) may also
evoke the feeling of affection. Either the old or the very young may be seen as
being in need of care and protection and thus deserving affection and love. This
might explain the mixture of feelings in some of the examples, where disrespect
and affection can be combined.
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Affection can also be indicated by the social relationship of friendship. This
happens especially in the case of terms for MEN:
MEN ARE MALE FRIENDS
chum; buddy; fella; feller; pal; sport
Men who are not friends of the speaker can be referred to metaphorically as
friends if the speaker wishes to indicate some sort of affection, solidarity, or
empathy with the other man. It seems that female friends are not used to refer to
women, and hence to express affection between women.
In sum, KINSHIP metaphors are primarily used to express respect,
disrespect, solidarity, and affection in (American) English slang.
Words based on social stereotypes
In a large set of further cases, there is no underlying metaphorical
conceptualization that underlies the naming of women and men. What is
involved instead is that there is a social stereotype for women and men, and
various aspects of this stereotype metonymically give rise to a variety of further
names for women and men. Let us now take a look at this stereotype and see
those aspects of it that create names for women and men.
A large portion of the stereotype is made up female and male sexual organs
and activities. These serve as convenient ways of referring to women and men.
Such terms display an interest on the part of women and men in the other as
objects of sex or sexual desire. The terms are not metaphor-based as the
previous ones were, but are based on metonymy, where a body part or sexual
action is used to indicate women and men:
BODY PART FOR WOMAN
VAGINA FOR WOMAN
cooz; crack; cunt; fish; gash; oyster; piece of tail; pussy; pussycat; snatch; splittail; tail; tuna
FEMALE PUBIC HAIR FOR WOMAN
bit a fluff; fluff; bush; frill; muff; wool
BREASTS FOR WOMAN
tits; titty
BUTTOCKS FOR WOMAN
butt; patootie
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ANKLE FOR WOMAN
ankle
LEG FOR WOMAN
leg
BODY PART FOR MEN
MALE SEXUAL ORGAN FOR MEN
cock; gun; schmo
As can be noticed, the body parts used metonymically for women greatly
outnumber the body parts used for men for referential, or naming, purposes.
Men select body parts for referring to women that participate in some way in
the sexual act. However, which body part is actually selected (outside the “core
parts”) for such a purpose seems to be historically (and probably also culturally)
contingent. For example, it is unlikely that the ankle or leg would be used today
by men to refer to women.
As far as women referring to men within the sexual perspective are
concerned, it is unlikely that they identify men through the major male sexual
body part. It is men who use such terms to refer to other men. Women,
however, might use words based on the MEN ARE FOOD metaphor (dish,
hunk, etc.), designations outside the social stereotype perspective but within the
general sexual perspective.
Another metonymy that seems to be used by men to refer to other men is the
following:
ACTION FOR AGENT
ASSUMED MALE SEXUAL ACTION FOR MEN
beggar; bugger; cat; fucker; jigger
Such terms for men refer to men through the (initiating, more active) agent
of the sexual act, who is typically taken to be men. The terms may be
euphemistic (beggar, jigger), they may denote a particular kind of sexual act
(bugger), and they may indirectly indicate a type of sexual act (cat), where we
have the AGENT FOR HUNTING (prowling) metonymy and THE
ACQUISITION OF A SEXUAL PARTNER IS ANIMAL HUNTING
metaphor.
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In sum, all these ways of referring to women and men make use of
metonymy based on sexual organs and activities. The metonymy is used to
highlight the primarily sexual interest in the other sex by speakers of slang.
But there are many other metonymies that are not based on human sexual
behavior. Assumed qualities that women and men have and that are part of the
stereotype can be used to create further names for women and men.
One of the qualities that women are assumed to possess is that they are frail
(see also Shakespeare’s “Frailty, thy name is woman”), while a comparable
quality for men is that they are tough. Such qualities for women and men
metonymically give rise to additional ways of referring to them:
ASSUMED TYPICAL QUALITY FOR WOMEN
fluff; frail; frail femme; frail sister; frail Susie
ASSUMED TYPICAL QUALITY FOR MEN FOR MEN
tough customer; tough cookie
A quality that seems to uniquely characterize women is beauty:
BEAUTY FOR WOMEN
angel; bimbo; cutems; cuteness; cutie; fair
While the previous examples clearly reflect appreciation on the part of the
speaker, certain qualities are used to express depreciation. One of these is
stupidity:
STUPIDITY FOR WOMEN
bimbo; dumb blonde
STUPIDITY FOR MEN
bozo; clown; geek/geke; geezer (odd or eccentric person, esp. old); goof; goofer; goofie;
goofus; joker; monkey; sucker
As can be seen, it applies to both women and men, and it seems to be more
productive for men.
Certain assumed typical activities by women and men may also produce
words for women and men:
ASSUMED TYPICAL VERBAL ACTIVITY BY WOMEN FOR WOMEN
shouter (US, a criminal’s girlfriend)
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ASSUMED TYPICAL VERBAL ACTIVITY BY MEN FOR MEN
cuss
While women are assumed to quarrel and shout, men are assumed to swear.
Men are also seen as engaging in a variety of different activities, such as
fighting, shaving, and others. These yield a number of metonymy-based
designations for men:
ASSUMED TYPICAL MALE ACTIVITY FOR MEN
bruiser; buster (either crime buster or broncobuster); fart (esp. old men); shaver; squirt
There seem to be no corresponding activity for women that results in
designations for women.
Typical proper names for women and men can also create slang words for
women and men:
TYPICAL FIRST NAME FOR ALL WOMEN
eve/evie; jane; jenny/Jenny; Jill; Kate; Maud; Nell; Nelly; Sheila; susie/Susie
TYPICAL FIRST NAME FOR MEN FOR ALL MEN
Jack; Jake; Jasper; Joe; John; Johnny GB; Tom
In these cases, it may be that the commonness and ordinariness of the names
reflects the uninteresting character of the women and men, and hence a basic
depreciation on the part of the speaker.
An interesting special case of name-based metonymies for women and men
involve words for women and men in another language or ethnic group:
WORD FOR WOMAN IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE/ETHNIC GROUP FOR ALL WOMEN
fem; femme; femmie; frau; muchacha; squaw
WORD FOR MEN IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE/ETHNIC GROUP FOR ALL MEN
hombre; mac/mack
Clothing is another source of creating words for women and men:
ASSUMED TYPICAL CLOTHING FOR WOMEN
skirt
ASSUMED TYPICAL CLOTHING FOR MEN
pants
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As with many of the other examples, these terms may be historical relics.
Some slang terms for women and men originate in the Bible:
ASSUMED ANCESTRY OF WOMEN FOR WOMEN
piece of Eve’s flesh
ASSUMED ANCESTRY OF MEN FOR MEN
piece of Adam’s flesh
Most of the designations discussed so far were parallel ones; the same kind
of metonymy produced words for both women and men. There are, however, a
number of metonymies that appear to apply to men only:
FACE FOR MEN
chap (chap(s) is the forepart of the face); chappie (chap(s) is the forepart of the face); chappy
(chap(s) is the forepart of the face); gill; mug; mush
BALD HEAD FOR MEN
skin
PERSONALITY FOR MEN
character
In general, it can be suggested in connection with the set of words for
women and men discussed above that some of them are neutral, but many of
them express either appreciation or depreciation on the part of the speaker.
Moreover, some of the cases (e.g., PERSONALITY FOR MEN) are such that
the basic evaluation can be either appreciative or depreciative, depending on the
context of use. In other words, the words for women and men based on social
stereotypes reflect the speaker’s appreciation or depreciation of another person.
It is this basic evaluative function that motivates the use of these words for
women and men.
Conclusions
It appears that both women and men are conceptualized as THINGS, FOOD,
ANIMAL, and RELATIVES in (American) English slang. As far as the more
specific metaphors within these are concerned, women are more commonly
conceptualized as COMMODITIES, APPETIZING FOOD, and YOUNG
ANIMAL than men are. As regards the metaphors centered on KINSHIP, there
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seem to be no specific-level metaphors to distinguish the conceptualization of
women from that of men.
Why are such metaphors used to talk and think about women and men? The
most likely answer that emerges from this study is that there are certain
elementary social feelings and attitudes characteristic of speakers of slang that
prompt the use of the metaphors. Such feelings and attitudes include respect or
disrespect for the other, the appreciation or depreciation of the other, affection,
solidarity, and caring. To express these feelings and attitudes in relation to other
women and men, the metaphors we have seen above are especially appropriate.
In addition to the metaphors and the elementary feelings and attitudes
prompting them, speakers of (American) English slang operate with a
stereotype for both women and men. The stereotypes become clear from the
many metonymically-used words for women and men. The stereotypes have
women and men as having a certain body, having certain typical qualities,
performing certain actions, wearing certain clothes, having typical names, etc.
Many of these aspects of the respective stereotypes are used for evaluating
people in certain basic ways: appreciating or depreciating them.
Perhaps at the deepest layer of the emerging ideology about women and
men, we find the unsurprising fact that women and men are sexual beings. It is
this basic sexual perspective from which men consider women. The language
we have studied above indicates that sex is almost always “on the mind” of
speakers of slang when they create words for women. The COMMODITY,
APPETIZING FOOD, and ANIMAL metaphors, as well as the social stereotype
for women are informed and produced by this deep interest and urge on the part
of men in relation to women.
As this study indicates, this asymmetry constitutes the single most important
difference in the conceptualization of women and men, and hence in the
ideologies about them. In other words, the motivation for such metaphors does
not only come from the social feelings and attitudes they can suitably express
but also from predominantly viewing women as sexual objects. When these two
types of motivation successfully meet, as in the present case, speakers have
created an especially powerful ideology that drives the ways in which men
relate to women and, to the extent that women adopt this perspective, women
relate to men.
_________________________
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ZOLTÁN KÖVECSES
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
E-mail: zkovecses@ludens.elte.hu
References
BERREY Lest V., VAN DEN BARK Melvin, 1947, The American
Thesaurus of Slang (Second edition).
CHAPMAN Robert L., 1989, Thesaurus of American Slang, New York,
Harper and Row.
GREEN Jonathon, 2005, Slang Down the Ages, London, Kyle Cathie
Limited.
KÖVECSES Zoltán, 2002, Metaphor. A Practical Introduction, Oxford,
Oxford University Press.
KÖVECSES Zoltán, 2005, Metaphor in Culture. Universality and Variation,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
KÖVECSES Zoltán, 2006, Language, Mind, and Culture. A Practical
Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
LAKOFF George, 1987, Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things, Chicago, The
University of Chicago Press.
LAKOFF George, JOHNSON Mark, 1980, Metaphors We Live By, Chicago,
The University of Chicago Press.