bullet train metaphor meaning

This introduces a metaphor of force. Others? passenger train - a train that carries passengers. I have just started to read that book – a good way of distracting myself from the ever-present thought of the novel coronavirus or Covid-19! History Conception. Confinement metaphors Even if we’re not fighting the fire directly, we all need to look after the land to avoid further disasters. See our policy. This metaphor ecchoes the Prime Minister’s speech one hour earlier and is used widely by officials. Also features a streamlined bullet nose, the Shinkansen in Japan is the most representative. Covid is simply spreading itself on top of our acquiescing bodies, a thin layer of sanitiser and fear.”. If we don’t do very serious mitigation now, what’s going to happen is that we’re going to be weeks behind, and the horse is going to be out of the barn.”. We knew it was coming and we still were not prepared, medically, scientifically, and culturally, despite all the dystopian pandemic literature that have been circulating for ages [added: new article in The Conversation about this here!] Why was this metaphor not used more widely when people discussed cancelling or not cancelling large gatherings of people?! A really great example of what the virus does and how it spreads was this mixed metaphor where New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo tried to explain the dynamics of virus transmission by saying: “It’s these large gatherings where you can expose a number of people in a very short period of time and then it’s like dominoes, right, then the tree continues to expand with branches.” (The Guardian, 9 March 2020, p. 7, also here). I would however like to invite you, dear reader, to let me know about any other metaphors, and there must be thousands, that I have overlooked. Thesaurus AntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Switch to new thesaurus. You have probably all heard of cruise ships being petri dishes for the virus. If there are other examples, please let me know. A literal interpretation would trivialize the meaning (every Christian should train for a marathon? “Bullet train to Iowaska/ayahuasca” has a touch of irony, because the concept of time might not be real in the context of DMT-fueled experiences, yet Maynard uses the image of rapidly approaching the ayahuasca brew. See also my blog post about the role of music (and poems) during this crisis and during lockdown. [Added: They are now even more conspicuous in this strange document from Downing Street – which would deserve a separate analysis! She also speaks of a ‘race against time’, which is more clearly a competition rather than a violent confrontation. They are essential for the development of language, cognition and culture. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Now, on 23 March, it is on an amazing cover of The New Yorker! They also exploit weaknesses in human society.” And: “A bug or a virus will exploit any weakness in the body politic. Here's a metaphor in action: My heart is a train pounding down the tracks. See Privacy and Cookies for details. But to take your metaphor of the subway one step further, you’re assuming with this flatter curve that people will still need to get on the subway. Somebody should keep an eye on cultural differences in metaphor use, comparing various speeches by political leaders in this respect, for example Macron, focussing on ‘la guerre’, Trump now also shifting to ‘war’, Downing Street invoking war imagery similar to the Trump administration, but others not so much such as leaders in Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Canada and the Netherlands…India . On 6 March Morgan Lyons wrote in Metro that “Whack-a-mole is a lousy crisis strategy”. Here is an example and there are many more. Many thanks for these great addition to my little metaphor collection and starting to look more at ‘conceptual metaphors’ as well as personification! Before I display my random collection of metaphors caught on the fly, a quick overview of metaphors and metaphor analysis. That’s the system that is overwhelmed. The disease spread can be contained, and outliers can be caught. In the Queen’s Speech, the corona-virus is described as a dangerous visitor and as something that spreads like rings in the water. Classified under: Nouns denoting man-made objects. š, pronounced [ɕiŋkaꜜɰ̃seÉ´], lit. […] Brigitte Nerlich for the University of Nottingham – Metaphors in the time of coronavirus […]. Simon Jenkins wrote in The Guardian: “Never, ever, should a government use war as a metaphor in a time of peace. A just-abandoned "bullet train" in California is a metaphor for the expensive, unworkable dreams of the Green New Deal. Obviously, there are war metaphors, the go-to metaphors used in almost all reporting on infectious diseases, epidemics and pandemics, but, I thought, that cannot be all. What is more important than talking about ‘control’ is talking about collaborative and collective efforts to manage the disease. So, what about metaphors and Covid-19? It takes someone to pull the tricker in that scenario. Theoretical and practical implications of this information transfer as well as limitations of the study are discussed. than the big boat or ship of Public Health England which is supposed to coordinate testing centrally. Personification Governments want to be seen to take control and bring the virus under control. Also a mash-up between Star Wars and the Downing Street ‘communication’, by @ojmason and @rennarda (based on seeing random uppercase words), empty shelves and an ambulance driver with a shopping basket!!! Somebody should also keep an eye on emerging symbols and alternative forms of communication, as putting green or red pieces of paper in your window indicating you are fine or you need assistance. Asymptomatic spread as a fire cracker with an invisible fuse, “If there is one thing about the novel coronavirus that you must understand, it’s that it is a firecracker with a long fuse. […] metaphors can significantly influence how people approach problems and data-gathering. The ‘flattening the curve’ metaphor (see my blog post here) has become big and has many variations, off-shoots and cousins, such as this. On 25 March, now that New York has ‘exploded’ with cases, Cuomo has introduced another metaphor, that of the bullet train: “Mr Cuomo continued: ‘The [infection] forecaster said to me, ‘We were looking at a freight train coming across the country.’ ”We’re now looking at a bullet train.””. meaning. “FAUCI: It’s the old metaphor that – the Wayne Gretzky approach. What are some examples? if a relay starts chain reaction, the whole society very quickly learns to be responsible and responsive. It’s one reason I became a virologist. Kho kho – Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org › wiki › Kho_kho); where each one of us should help in encouraging others to be even more responsible in encouraging self-quarantine where needed, practice social distance, avoid large gatherings, and censure undesirable social behavior. (Remember cancer as an unwanted lodger. Definition of bullet train. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Because of diseases like cholera, we literally figured out how to handle our shit.”. One should really match the metaphors to the policies that were enacted over time and in various countries. It knows no borders.” So we enter the politics of war… a dangerous field. In other words, you’re assuming that we’re not going to see a quick end to the spread of the coronavirus, that people will still continue to get infected.”, Skate not to where the puck is but to where the puck is going to be. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Prof Neil Gershenfeld of Massachusetts Institute of Technology put it best when he said that ‘building models is very different from proclaiming truths’. which a word or phrase that ordinarily. There is even a special issue on pandemics published by Sociology of Health and Illness in 2012 and edited by Robert Dingwall, Lily Hoffman and Karen Staniland. We’re getting run over by two gray rhinos: coronavirus and climate change. On 14 April Ed Yong pointed out that in The Atlantic “the only viable endgame is to play whack-a-mole with the coronavirus, suppressing it until a vaccine can be produced”…. Decisions made by the Prime Minister are described as strong early in the Queen’s speech, perhaps because she wants us to think of the Prime Minister as strong. 3 — The idea of hotspots […], […] Un artículo en el blog de la lingüista Brigitte Norlich recopila distintas metáforas para hablar del covid-19, y reflexiona sobre los aspectos que se enfatizan en cada una de ellas. ?) Cuomo said that there was a "critical and desperate need" for ventilators — at least 30,000. and all the real epidemics and pandemics that have happened in recent times. Even though they knew it was coming, and could see what happened to the neighbours as they were overwhelmed with terrifying speed, the UK government has inexplicably chosen to encourage the flames, in the misguided notion that somehow they will be able to control them.”. • BULLET TRAIN (noun) Sense 1. The phrase and its cognates should be banned. comparison, as in “a sea of troubles”. And the use and challenging of clichés: Richard Osman said: “People still congregating in busy spaces saying ‘it’s the Dunkirk sprit’, need to understand that in this scenario they’re actually being the Luftwaffe.”, The harm that clichés can do, such as ‘stiff upper lip’, ‘keep calm and carry on’, see this article in the New England Journal of Medicine: “Throughout the past few weeks, the U.K. mantra has been ‘we will act at the appropriate time according to the science.’ Many clinicians and scientists have been pushing the panic button, but the alarm, if heard, was not acted on publicly until the third week of March.”, Other languages! All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. In his article, which all students of metaphor shoul… Below we examine […]. OK Otherwise we'll assume you're OK to continue. You can change your cookie settings if you wish. The Danish Queen further described the spread of the virus as a frightening chain but also as a container in which people will die. […], […] Un articolo in Il blog della linguista Brigitte Norlich compila diverse metafore per parlare di COVID-19, e riflette sugli aspetti che vengono enfatizzati in ciascuna di esse. Bullet-train. He said: “Your house is on fire, and the people whom you have trusted with your care are not trying to put it out. The Mumbai–Ahmedabad corridor, along with 5 other high-speed rail corridors, was introduced for a feasibility study in the 2009–2010 Rail Budget.A 650 km-long high-speed rail corridor was proposed to run from Pune to Ahmedabad via Mumbai. It is also known as Pato, meaning duck in Spanish, as the train’s front resembles the beak of a duck. Here is what the explosion looks like: Every six days, the number of people infected by the disease doubles, according to estimates from Bedford and other epidemiologists. a blog on March 17, 2020, by #Brigitte #Nerlich reviews many interesting metaphors about Covid-19 and the way society is trying to cope with it. We all have this disease, even if our bodies try to resist its full development. 2. PS there are now also visual metaphors emerging, such as crinolines for social distancing, Abbey Road and Edward Hopper paintings – as well as bat with mask on, and there must be much more, around masks etc. I leave that with you readers. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc. One headline in The Sun brought many aspects of the war metaphor together when it declared: “Army on standby as Boris declares war on coronavirus with battle plan to kill the deadly virus”. I am glad there is now a bigger effort being coordinated by you and others on a shared spreadsheet. “America’s top infectious diseases expert [Fauci] is warning that hundreds of thousands of Americans could die unless every citizen joins an effort to blunt the coronavirus pandemic — only to be contradicted by President Donald Trump, who insists the virus is under ‘tremendous’ control.”. Cholera became a huge problem when human beings started moving to cities in huge numbers. as a new land or a dangerous visitor, resp. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. “Covid is the disease of stoppage, of ‘social distancing’, of ‘self-isolating’ (all these new terms that will no doubt find their way in the Oxford Dictionary very soon), of no-handshakes-no-hugs, no flights, no passing through. Flattening the curve or making it go away depend on two measures: social distancing or, better, physical distancing and, in the future, treatment and vaccination. […] An invisible fuse sets off this burst of disease. […], […] Un artículo en el blog de la lingüista Brigitte Norlich recopila distintas metáforas para hablar de la COVID-19, y reflexiona sobre los aspectos que se enfatizan en cada una de ellas. (More on war metaphors in this blog post by Milena Podolsak. What is a metaphor? The Danish prime minister has, like many other government leaders, been talking about the ‘fight against Corona’. Synonyms for bullet train include aerotrain, high-speed train and train de haute vitesse. There are also metaphors who take the virus and turn it into a metaphor. When Japan got its first bullet train called the Tokaido Shinkansen, the high speed rail network was only 515 Kms long and trains travelled at maximum speeds of 200 Km/h. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, often seen standing beside President Trump, urges people to, in a way, be always ahead of the curve, which means going where the infection is going to be, as well as where it is. (And more reflections on this by Ian Burdon (@Cosmic_Serf) in his blog post on metaphors here). @elenasemino mentioned this Italian fire metaphor here: “non soldati, ma pompieri” ‘Not soldiers but firefighters‘. The second half of last century and the beginning of the current one were marked by several major health crises caused by the widespread and often deadly flu epidemics. Force metaphors Also Known As 🚅 Bullet Train 🚅 Shinkansen 🚅 High-Speed Train with Bullet Nose https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/…/metaphors-in-the-time-of-c…/, #covid-19 #disease #infections #social-distance #quarnatine #public #policy. They have been tools for meaning-making as long as humans have been able to talk to each other. Hypernyms ("bullet train" is a kind of...): passenger train (a train that carries passengers) So, I started rummaging around quite unsystematically, I have to confess, and here is what I found. Thony Thorne, a linguist, also pointed in this direction at the end of April, when quoted in an article in The Financial Times).