What is an object-used-for-user metonymy?

What is an object-used-for-user metonymy?

Definition
	A conventional metonymy in which reference to a tool is used to stand for the user of the tool.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	The sax has the flu today. The BLT is a lousy tipper. The gun he hired wanted fifty grand.

Generic
	An object-used-for-user metonymy is a kind of
	Conventional metonymies in English

Source
	Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980

Context for this page:

Concept module: object-used-for-user metonymy
In modular book: Metonymies 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: 2 July 1998