What is a love-as-physical-force metaphor?

What is a love-as-physical-force metaphor?

Definition
	A conventional metaphor in which love is represented as a force such as gravity, electricity, or magnetism, thus highlighting a conception of love as something over which a person has no choice and for which he is not responsible.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	I was magnetically drawn to her. They gravitated to each other immediately. His whole life revolves around her. They lost their momentum.

Generic
	A love-as-physical-force metaphor is a kind of
	What is a metaphor for love?

Sources
	Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980, Kovecses 1986

Context for this page:

Concept module: love-as-physical-force metaphor
In modular book: Metaphors in English, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H. Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Lexicon

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 September 1998