What is a choosing-as-touching metaphor?

What is a choosing-as-touching metaphor?

Definition
	A conventional metaphor in which an act of choosing is represented as an act of touching.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	He was tapped for service. The boss hand-picked his successor. Sam was passed over for promotion.

Generic
	A choosing-as-touching metaphor is a kind of
	What is a metaphor for rational processes?

Source
	Lakoff, G. 1987

Context for this page:

Concept module: choosing-as-touching 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