Attempt 1

Metaphors are all around us in the world, yet we do not even think about how influential they are on our lives. They greatly impact the way we think, and metaphor helps us understand things that we would have trouble with if metaphor was not used. However, most of the time we do not realize that these metaphors are floating around us in television commercials, billboards, songs, literature, and just in general conversations that occur every day. Metaphors can be created in all sorts of ways and while one’s definition of the term might be slightly different from another, most usually have a similar starting point or have general overlapping similarities. Some people look deeper into the meaning of metaphor, its origins, and how it can affect people in real life. The deeper meaning of a metaphor could positively or negatively affect how the person on the receiving end of the metaphor reacts. For example, James Geary, Michael Erard, and Dhruv Khullar are just a few of the masses of people who delve into the enigma of metaphor to attempt to elaborate and discover exactly how and why metaphor affects us. Geary, in his TED talk titled “Metaphorically Speaking”, explains that even though metaphors seem simple and follow a very simple formula, they can have a very complex meaning once the layers are peeled away to reveal the true purpose of the metaphor. Erard, a metaphor designer, emphasizes in his essay, “See Through Words”, that metaphors almost always will have multiple meanings that can be interpreted differently depending on the metaphor itself and that metaphors can be used to help understand concepts that might not be very easy to conceptualize. Dhruv Khullar, a doctor who wrote the essay “The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphors”, believes that metaphors are a very fundamental idea that help people visualize things in the world. He also believes that metaphors can have both negative and positive connotations, just that the way they are used can affect the overall outcome of any situation, especially in the medical field. People stricken by illness sometimes tend to interpret metaphors in a different way than they are intended to be. Although these three gentlemen have slightly different descriptions and thoughts, they share the common belief that metaphors can have a very powerful effect on how people think, act, how they understand things that happen around them, and how metaphors can have a deeper meaning that will take some thinking to uncover in most cases.

Attempt 2

Metaphors are all around us in the world, yet we do not even think about how influential they are on our lives, physically and mentally. They greatly impact the way we think about ourselves and everything around us, and metaphor helps us understand things that we would have trouble with if metaphor was not used. However, most of the time we do not realize that these metaphors are floating around us in television commercials, billboards, songs, literature, and just in general conversations that occur every day. Metaphors can be created in all sorts of ways and while one’s definition of the term might be slightly different from another, most usually have a similar starting point or have general overlapping similarities. Some people look deeper into the meaning of metaphor, its origins, and how it can affect people in real life. The deeper meaning of a metaphor could positively or negatively affect how the person on the receiving end of the metaphor reacts. Three men by the names of James Geary, Michael Erard, and Dhruv Khullar are just a few of the masses of people who delve into the enigma of metaphor to attempt to elaborate and discover exactly how and why metaphor affects us, and more importantly, who created the metaphors that carry us throughout the day. Khullar specifically delves into how metaphors can affect people in a medical environment, like a hospital for example. He believes that people that have unfortunately been stricken with illness or disease tend to interpret a metaphor like “being a fighter” in a different way that they are intended to. Most of the time these patients will take this thought further than their ill bodies are physically capable of doing. However, there are two sides to his story, as there are two sides of all things in this world. Language, and specifically metaphor, can completely change how a person acts and feels, mentally and physically, as well as their understanding of the world around them, whether they are healthy or not.