What is a time-as-stationary metaphor?

What is a time-as-stationary metaphor?

Definition
	A conventional metaphor in which time is understood as a stationary object that one moves through, such that going further through the object represents being at a more advanced time.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	As we go through the years,... As we go further into the 1980s... We're approaching the end of the year.

Generic
	A time-as-stationary metaphor is a kind of
	What is a metaphor for time?

Source
	Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980

Context for this page:

Concept module: time-as-stationary 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