Dear All,

I think it is a common (universal) semantic category and could be found in many languages. The military metaphors were used and partly described even in ancient time (Aristotle, Philodemus of Gadara, Theophrastus, Cicero, Quintilian, and others). I wrote on it in my article: Metaphor as a Research Object of Antiquity [Метафора как исследовательский объект античной филологии] (2003). There is a PhD thesis written by Taisia Magomadova “The military metaphors in the modern English, German and Russian media discourses” (2015). Its text is in Russian, but one can see the English and German contexts with metaphors. Magomadova found the specifics in their using and came to the conclusion that the main military metaphors in these languages are based on the names of 1) military events; 2) military actions and their elements; 3) arms, parts of weapons, and so on; 4) participants in military actions, military units and subdivisions; 5) the places of military actions; 6) military attributes and symbols. The most productive (prevailing) types of military metaphors in the modern English and German media discourses are ones that are based on the names of military events, acts of war, weapons. For the Russian media discourse – on the names of military events, military actions and their participants. The main metaphorical “models” (I think schema is the better term for them, because a model should have few parameters, not only "direction", but also some others) for the English, German and Russian media discourses are well known: "POLITICS IS WAR", "ECONOMICS (BUSINESS, MARKETING,ADVERTISING, PR) IS WAR," "SPORT IS WAR", "EDUCATION IS WAR", "JOURNALISM IS WAR" "ENTERTAINMENT IS WAR", and so on.

New words accompany cultural change.  Yes, it i significant that Americans use so many military expressions. See my book, Language the Social Mirror, 4th ed.(2007) for a full analysis of cultural change mirrored by linguistic change. The 4th edition has the fullest treatment of the subject, although it is mentioned in the earlier editions.

Dear Barry Turner, you are right, the human experience of any kind, including military one, is acting on language. The strong military terms (because the war is most expressive and dramatical human activity) are seemed very attractive for denoting of various phenomena, processes and other things...And medical oral practice, really, reflects the dramatical struggle and battles for for the life! 

Anyone who has  lived in different cultures could only agree with your statement Barry. This is, in my opinion, what makes interpreting difficult, as culture determines the meaning of most verbal expressions, concepts and ideas. I believe that unless we know the cultural meaning behind it, words do not make sense.

Regards

Philadelphia, PA

Dear Turner,

I recall in this connection some considerable regret expressed, on occasion, about William James and "The Moral Equivalent of War," one of his last published articles. It is clearly an anti-war piece (looking to engage people in other ways), but at the same time, it subsequently gave rise to some phrases, an entire series of them actually, such as President Johnson's  "war on poverty" President Nixon's "war on drugs," and the current "war on terrorism," which have not always had a happy career. The "war" metaphors seem often excessive and overly single-minded, hard to escape, and not conductive to critical attention to actual policy, IMHO.

I think we tend to become excessively single-minded in any case, and the war metaphors reinforce this tendency; its as though, lacking an absolutely ruling passion of the moment, we wouldn't know what to do at all. But the total dominance of a single ruling passion tends to narrowness and lack of flexibility.

I think it would be interesting here to see some comparisons of relevant terms from other languages. Maybe the English-language genius for borrowings would come in handy, suggesting replacements for the prevalent roles of our war metaphors. 

H.G. Callaway

Dear Barry!

This is absolutely interesting.

Fascinating question. I hope to learn some .

My grandfather came from a hilly part of Portugal, near the boarder with Spain, where they still keep proud reminiscence of keltic culture. They speak a particular language, the Mirandum, that seems to have celtic roots... and some common words with ancient Portuguese.  The men dress warrior skirts, and play the bag pipe, just like the scottish. (strange mysterious cultural originality, that a few hundred people are proud to maintain, til the 21st century...) Mirandum language and culture -from Miranda do Douro, Portugal-

https://youtu.be/PP4rDVHwhX8

This is to show that your statement is quite oportune.

Yes it is

Indeed culture is read from actions and styles societies  live and words and languages used.  our language, not only words but the way we say words and the tones that comes along  during conversations, reflect our culture. Not only words but the way we express things display how flexible, elastic and tolerant or rigid,  conformist  and intolerant our culture is. 

Dear Barry, you mentioned Britain had war cultures clearly indicated from the words citizens use, but are there also war time songs that were used to motivate citizens to join a war, that likewise influence the music culture today?  

გილოცავ შობა-ახალ წელს

To all contributors for 2016!

Happy New Year!

And especially in phrases and short stories...

 Barry,

The curious thing is that the war metaphors you cited are euphemisms.

Note the difference between the euphemistic, "Harry lost his long battle against cancer" and the cold facts of "Cancer ravaged Harry's body, removing him for several years from everything that was normal for him and his family, draining his bank account, and then finally strangling him to a painful death that even morphine could not allay."

Somehow fighting a war against cancer is much more optimistic than succumbing to its effects in a state of medical ignorance.

So what does our use of euphemism say about our society?

Yes. And a linguistic expression of each individual (spoken or text) opens (a bit) a window into his "soul".

After students have a mandatory minimum one hour per day instruction on English in school for 12 years, I am lucky if university Intro to Linguistic students can explain what a subject and a verb are in their native language. They have no idea what great store of knowledge they have in their minds nor understand any of language's intricacies--including ambiguity. By the end of the semester, they learn a little bit about it, but hold more of an appreciation for what a feat it is to carry on a meaningful conversation.

I often tell the story that as a substitute teacher I taught the same English grammar lesson two days in a row. The first day I was teaching 2nd grade and the next day sophomores in high school (10th grade). They still didn't get it. Since acquiring language happens so automatically, it sometimes takes an outside observer to penetrate its secrets.

Dear All,

I think it is a common (universal) semantic category and could be found in many languages. The military metaphors were used and partly described even in ancient time (Aristotle, Philodemus of Gadara, Theophrastus, Cicero, Quintilian, and others). I wrote on it in my article: Metaphor as a Research Object of Antiquity [Метафора как исследовательский объект античной филологии] (2003). There is a PhD thesis written by Taisia Magomadova “The military metaphors in the modern English, German and Russian media discourses” (2015). Its text is in Russian, but one can see the English and German contexts with metaphors. Magomadova found the specifics in their using and came to the conclusion that the main military metaphors in these languages are based on the names of 1) military events; 2) military actions and their elements; 3) arms, parts of weapons, and so on; 4) participants in military actions, military units and subdivisions; 5) the places of military actions; 6) military attributes and symbols. The most productive (prevailing) types of military metaphors in the modern English and German media discourses are ones that are based on the names of military events, acts of war, weapons. For the Russian media discourse – on the names of military events, military actions and their participants. The main metaphorical “models” (I think schema is the better term for them, because a model should have few parameters, not only "direction", but also some others) for the English, German and Russian media discourses are well known: "POLITICS IS WAR", "ECONOMICS (BUSINESS, MARKETING,ADVERTISING, PR) IS WAR," "SPORT IS WAR", "EDUCATION IS WAR", "JOURNALISM IS WAR" "ENTERTAINMENT IS WAR", and so on.

Languages alway reflect culture and environment. See my book, Language the Social Mirror now in it 4th edition for a full explanation. Amazingly, language reflects cultural changes before members of a society realize that it's happening. 

Language adapts to culture but culture conditions language.What this means is that we use language according to a cultural situation we find ourselves, yet again the language we use possesses cultural signs, symbols and signature. So, yes, language can give insight into our culture, but language will also articulate an ideal our culture could aspire to!