Final published version
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - “Not soldiers but fire-fighters” – Metaphors and Covid-19
AU - Semino, Elena
PY - 2021/1/2
Y1 - 2021/1/2
N2 - Metaphors have been widely used in communication about the Covid-19 pandemic. The virus has been described, for example, as an “enemy” to be “beaten,” a “tsunami” on health services and even as “glitter” that “gets everywhere.” This paper discusses different metaphors for the pandemic, and explains why they are used and why they matter. War metaphors are considered first, as they were particularly frequent and controversial at the beginning of the pandemic. An overview of alternative metaphors is then provided, drawing from the “#ReframeCovid” crowd-sourced multilingual collection of metaphors for Covid-19. Finally, based on both the #ReframeCovid collection and a systematic analysis of a large corpus of news articles in English, it is suggested that Fire metaphors are particularly appropriate and versatile in communication about different aspects of the pandemic, including contagion and different public health measures aimed at reducing it.
AB - Metaphors have been widely used in communication about the Covid-19 pandemic. The virus has been described, for example, as an “enemy” to be “beaten,” a “tsunami” on health services and even as “glitter” that “gets everywhere.” This paper discusses different metaphors for the pandemic, and explains why they are used and why they matter. War metaphors are considered first, as they were particularly frequent and controversial at the beginning of the pandemic. An overview of alternative metaphors is then provided, drawing from the “#ReframeCovid” crowd-sourced multilingual collection of metaphors for Covid-19. Finally, based on both the #ReframeCovid collection and a systematic analysis of a large corpus of news articles in English, it is suggested that Fire metaphors are particularly appropriate and versatile in communication about different aspects of the pandemic, including contagion and different public health measures aimed at reducing it.
U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989
M3 - Journal article
VL - 36
SP - 50
EP - 58
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
SN - 1532-7027
IS - 1
ER -