Metonymy and Proverbs

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PROVERBS
 
A proverb is a short statement usually known by many people. It states something that is common experience or gives advice. Here are some examples.

The best things in life are free."
 We don't have to pay for the things that are really valuable, like love,  friendship and good health.

 "A stitch in time saves nine."
Repair something as soon as it is damaged. That's a small repair job. If not, you will have a much bigger and more expensive repair job later. 

 "Still waters run deep."
Some rivers have rough surfaces with waves. That's usually because the water  is shallow and there are rocks near the surface. But deep rivers have no rocks near the surface and the water is smooth and still. "Still waters run deep"  means that people who are calm and tranquil on the outside, often have a strong,  "deep" personality.

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
Many women have won a man's love by cooking delicious meals for him. They fed  his stomach and found love in his heart.

"If the stone fall upon the egg, alas for the egg! If the egg fall upon the stone, alas for the egg!"
Life just isn't fair, and this realistic Arabic proverb ecognizes that. The  stone will always break the egg. Life's like that!

"Where there's a will there's a way."
 If we have the determination to do something, we can always find the path or  method to do it.

 "Marry in haste, and repent at leisure."
If we get married quickly, without thinking carefully, we may be sorry later.  And we will have plenty of time to be sorry.

Metonymy
Conceptual metaphors and metonymy
In addition to prototypes, cognitive semantics assumes that the concepts expressed by language are interconnected. In many cases one concept can be understood with the help of the other; this type of interconnection is called metaphor. In the linguistic sense, metaphors are part of our conceptual system. The use of metaphors in everyday language is so common that most of them are frequently not even noticed.
The similarity or analogy between two terms from different cognitive domains is typically assumed to enable metaphors to "transport" one or more properties of a (usually relatively concrete) source domain to a target domain, which is usually more abstract. George P. Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980) distinguish four different types of metaphors: structural metaphors, orientational metaphors, ontological metaphors, and metonymy.
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept.

Examples:

Here are some examples of metonymy:
  • Crown. (For the power of a king.)
  • The White House. (Referring to the American administration.)
  • Dish. (To refer an entire plate of food.)
  • The Pentagon. (For the Department of Defense and the offices of the U.S. Armed Forces.)
  • Pen. (For the written word.)
  • Sword - (For military force.)
  • Hollywood. (For US Cinema.)
  • Hand. (For help.)
Consider this quote which is a metonymic adage coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy:
"The pen is mightier than the sword."
References :
http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/writing-metonymy.php
http://www.ello.uos.de/field.php/Semantics/SemanticsConceptualmetaphorsandmetonymy
http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/metonymy.htm



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