Changing the Pandemic Metaphors
Associate Professor Stephen Flusberg comments on grist.org.
The words used to describe the coronavirus pandemic, often borrowed from war and natural disasters, evoke emotions and reactions that are not always beneficial.
In “No more ‘war on coronavirus’: In search of better ways to talk about a pandemic,” Stephen Flusberg, associate professor of psychology, explains new metaphors are hard to come by.
“Metaphors rely on common knowledge, so new ones can be difficult to come by. ‘We relapse to the ones we’ve used before, the ones that are common and frequent,’ said Stephen Flusberg, an associate professor of psychology at Purchase College in New York.”