In “The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphor’s” by Dhruv Khullar the author explains how the word choice in the metaphors used to describe things to patients by medical professionals has a large role in the patients outlook on their condition and treatment. He goes on to elaborate how specifically the military diction present in a lot of medical metaphors can have a negative impact on the morale of patients especially those with cancer or chronic conditions since military language can emphasize the struggle between a patient and their disease and plant seeds of dread in patents mind when something goes wrong since the military diction suggests that there are definite winners and losers. He also briefly addresses how the military language can be empowering to someone and help them be courageous in the face of adversity.
I personally think that diction can play a huge role in peoples perception of things. This is especially true in metaphors since metaphors are tools to help people explain difficult concepts by comparing it to something easier to understand. Unfortunately in the context of “The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphor’s” the words used in metaphors can have social contexts that have unintended consequences in the perception of the people they affect (which could be bad or good) which leads me to believe that metaphors are imperfect tools of understanding which can lead to deviations in peoples opinions on the subject of a metaphor based on the social context of the diction used.
The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphor’s: “They can invent them (similarities) where they don’t exist, and blur the lines between literal and figurative”. This quote explains how metaphors can sometimes have unintended consequences that can either enhance on contradict the metaphors intended meaning
Metaphorically Speaking: “We cannot ignore the literal meanings of words even when they give us the wrong answer” This quote reinforces the idea that word choice in metaphors is extremely important because metaphors are an imperfect communication method that if used incorrectly can warp your message into something unintended or even flat out wrong.”
See Through Words: “Preoccupied with questions such as why aren’t metaphors reversible” Metaphor’s aren’t reversible because an idea is explained using another idea to shed more light on the first idea and the reverse would be like lighting a match with a raging inferno (it simply isn’t practical).
Nice!
You write: “Unfortunately in the context of “The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphor’s” the words used in metaphors can have social contexts that have unintended consequences in the perception of the people they affect (which could be bad or good) which leads me to believe that metaphors are imperfect tools of understanding which can lead to deviations in peoples opinions on the subject of a metaphor based on the social context of the diction used.”
I also want to remind you that Geary and Erard mention other uses for this at times, imperfect tool (metaphor). Consider reflecting on these other uses as you write your first draft.