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"Not Soldiers but Fire-fighters" - Metaphors and Covid-19.
Semino, Elena.
  • Semino E; Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University.
Health Commun ; 36(1): 50-58, 2021 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-917579
ABSTRACT
Metaphors have been widely used in communication about the Covid-19 pandemic. The virus has been described, for example, as an "enemy" to be "beaten," a "tsunami" on health services and even as "glitter" that "gets everywhere." This paper discusses different metaphors for the pandemic, and explains why they are used and why they matter. War metaphors are considered first, as they were particularly frequent and controversial at the beginning of the pandemic. An overview of alternative metaphors is then provided, drawing from the "#ReframeCovid" crowd-sourced multilingual collection of metaphors for Covid-19. Finally, based on both the #ReframeCovid collection and a systematic analysis of a large corpus of news articles in English, it is suggested that Fire metaphors are particularly appropriate and versatile in communication about different aspects of the pandemic, including contagion and different public health measures aimed at reducing it.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Metaphor / Health Communication / COVID-19 Type of study: Observational study / Systematic review/Meta Analysis Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: Health Commun Journal subject: Health Services Research / Health Services Year: 2021 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Metaphor / Health Communication / COVID-19 Type of study: Observational study / Systematic review/Meta Analysis Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: Health Commun Journal subject: Health Services Research / Health Services Year: 2021 Document Type: Article