Original title: “Not Soldiers but Fire-fighters” – Metaphors and Covid-19
People often explain Covid-19 with comparisons, such as calling the virus an enemy or a tsunami. This paper looks at why these comparisons are used and what they suggest. It reviews alternatives collected by #ReframeCovid and studies English news articles. The authors suggest that fire metaphors can describe both contagion and measures to reduce it.
Imagine a kitchen where a small fire starts while people are cooking. It can spread, and people may take different steps to contain it. The same situation can be described in different ways, and each description draws attention to different parts of the problem. In this paper, fire stands for Covid-19 contagion, while containing the fire stands for public health measures intended to reduce it.
Metaphors shape how people understand a crisis and the actions taken in response. The paper examines language used about Covid-19, including whether fire metaphors can describe both how contagion spreads and how public health measures try to slow it.
The abstract does not report how the proposed metaphors affect public understanding or behavior. It does not give details of the news corpus or explain how the analysis was conducted. Its claim is that fire metaphors are particularly appropriate and versatile for several aspects of Covid-19 communication, not that they are best for every situation.
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“Not Soldiers but Fire-fighters” – Metaphors and Covid-19 — Elena Semino — Health Communication — doi:10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.