Lakoff and Johnson also suggest that human beings conceptualize things such as “time is money” and argument is war” and this is strongly tied to our culture (462).

They help humans gain understanding of the metaphorical nature that shapes our activities (461). Metaphorical expressions are not just randomly there. The concept of war characterizes the concept of argument, and the language follows this same pattern. In the following section, The Systematicity of Metaphorical Concepts, Lakoff and Johnson argue that “because the metaphorical concept is systematic, the language we use to talk about that aspect of the concept is systematic” as well (460). And this metaphorical language shapes the concepts we live by. Many of the things we say and do are based on such metaphorical language. We win and lose arguments, we “attack positions, defend our own,” and even take on new lines of attack (459). “Many of the things we do in arguing are structured by the concept of war (459). Lakoff and Johnson use the example of the phrase, “argument is war” to describe the cultural context from which we understand the concept of argument. In the first section, Concepts We Live By, Lakoff and Johnson explain that much of what humans think, experience, and do everyday is “a matter of metaphor”(458). In “Metaphors We Live By,” George Lakoff and Mark Johnson explain that metaphor is much more than just a poetic device-it is essential and pervasive in our everyday language, communication, thoughts, and actions (Lakoff and Johnson 458).

Lakoff metaphors we live by