Figurative expressions in English

Many temperature words are used to describe someone's characteristics, such as hot-tempered, a hot body, a burning desire.

Metaphor is a figure of speech used to refer to one thing or phenomenon by the name of another thing or phenomenon. There are metaphors that have become so familiar and everyday language that we often do not think of them as metaphors anymore.

Here are some commonly used metaphors in English:

- Time is money. Therefore, we can save time, reserve time, spend time, waste time, allocate time. In addition, time is also considered limited and precious.

- Intelligence is light. With this metaphor, the adjective you use describes someone's intelligence.

For example: She's the brightest student in the class or She's a brilliant scholar in the field; We were impressed by the author's shining intellect.

- Argument is war.

With this metaphor, you can say: I'm winning the argument; I have to defend my position; He's trying to attack the weakest points in my argument; I demolished his argument.

Dr. Phung Thuy Linh (right), at Chatham University, USA, March 2023. Photo: Author provided

- Feelings, quality, and relationships are heat. Temperature can represent cold, cool, warm, and hot.

In which, cold can be used to refer to emotions, personality, and relationships such as: She's a cold-hearted/ frigid person; I was greeted with a cold smile.

Another word that can be used to describe this state is icy, for example: His relationship with his wife has turned icy.

Cool is also used to describe feelings and appearances. For example: I need to cool off/ cool down; It's nice to just chill by the pool; Growing up, I never considered myself a cool kid.

Similar is the word warm: I have a warm feeling whenever I think of my grandma; She's a warm-hearted person with warm smiles; I received a warm welcome from my employees.

At a higher level, hot and equivalent words are used to refer to feelings of anger or to someone's popularity, attractiveness or urgency.

Some phrases you might see include: hot-tempered, hot-headed, a hot body, sell like hot cakes, a hot/burning issue, a burning desire.

Linh Phung (Director of English Program for International Students, Chatham University, USA)

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