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While reading Erard’s text I made serval annotations in the margins of the text. On one page Erard discusses how he believes that metaphors structure the way we think and talk. I agreed with this statement. I believe that metaphors structure the way we think because metaphors can mean something completely different from one person to another. Although, I believe that words can have the same meaning to everyone because of the definition which stands behind the word. I asked one of my friends to describe how she felt when she heard the phrase, “life is a highway.” My friend said that what she though of when she heard that phrase was that highways are meant to drive fast on, therefore, “life is a highway” meant that life goes by too quick so we have to make sure we enjoy every moment of it. I then asked myself the same question, what do I think of when I hear the phrase “life is a highway?” I then wrote down everything that came to mind. What I thought of when I heard the metaphor “life is a highway” is that there are many ups and downs throughout ours lives, but no matter what happens throughout your journey, you have to keep pushing through.

Throughout this article, Erard also talked about you have to be careful when using metaphors because they can be very emotional sometimes. I thought this was very interesting because I have never thought of metaphors being emotional. Since metaphors have such different meanings to different people, a metaphor can be a very negative statement from one person to another.

Another statement in the article that was stated is that metaphors can cause solutions to problems. I understand what Erard is talking about when he brings this point up. Metaphors, unlike words have many different meanings to different people, this being said, a metaphor can actually change the way someone is thinking to look at your idea through a different perspective and come across what idea you are trying to discuss a little better.

After reading this article I have learned that metaphors are strong, stronger than words. Metaphors can cause emotion, a better understanding of one another, and completely different views on the same set of words. I am excited that I now have a much better understanding of what a metaphor, examples of using metaphors and what stands behind creating a metaphor so I can now include metaphors in my future writing assignments.

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