The main question I wish to address in this chapter is this: Why is it that many people who are familiar with the view of metaphor that originates from Lakoff and Johnson's Metaphors We Live By so often expect that metaphors in the cognitive linguistic view should be largely or mostly universal? And, related to this, why is it that people so often criticize this view for ignoring the apparent diversity of metaphors across and even within cultures? Eve Sweetser (in press) nicely captures this general attitude:

To begin to see the most important reasons for this attitude, we have to survey some of the major ideas and recent developments of the cognitive linguistic theory of metaphor. However, a fuller answer to the questions raised here will only emerge in chapter 10, when I discuss the causes that lead to cross-cultural diversity in metaphorical conceptualization.

METAPHOR IN THE BODY

What does it mean more precisely that metaphor is in the body? In order to see this, imagine the following simple situation: You are working hard, let us say sawing or chopping wood, or you are doing some vigorous exercise, such as running or aerobics. After a while you are beginning to work up heat, you feel hot, and maybe you begin to sweat.