What is a life-as-gambling-game metaphor?

A conventional metaphor in which life is represented as a game of chance.

Here are some examples in English:

• I'll take my chances.
• The odds are against me.
• He's holding all the aces.
• It's a toss-up.
• If you play your cards right, you can do it.
• Those are high stakes.

• What is a metaphor for life?

Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980

• Concept module: life-as-gambling-game 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

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