On Wed, 19 Feb 1997, Ron McDonald wrote:
> My point: The process of striking an ideal (sports team, theatre cast)
> and trying to imitate that ideal is less useful than beginning with the
> actual experience of the participants in the dialogue and interpreting
> that experience. After interpretation comes discovering actions to make
> the situation better.
I think the point of using explanatory metaphors is to see what works
within one metaphor that seldom works in the current one. They provide an
additional frame of analysis and provocation in reassessing the use of
language in a social construction.
For example, one of these metaphors offered earlier was _family_. A
generally accepted phrase is "We are just like a family around here."
However, are they talking only about the positive aspects of family? Or,
do they also acknowledge the eventuality of a corresponding possiblity for
divorce and death in the family?
______________________
Great Optimism,
Dutch Driver
Dept. of Communication
McMurry University
Abilene, TX
ddriver@cs1.mcm.edu