Brexit metaphors
understanding Britain’s relationship with Europe through mental shortcuts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60054/PEU.2019.6.189-200Keywords:
Brexit, metaphors, EU, referendumAbstract
Between 2017 and 2019, the author has created over 400 original metaphors to describe various aspects of the UK-EU relationship and the Brexit process. These topics are explored in 161 published blog articles on www.BrexitMetaphors.blogspot.com, which cover several broad themes: economic, political, historical, geographical and socio-cultural. In the present paper, the meaning of the metaphors is elaborated in brackets where it is not obvious. Metaphors are exceptionally useful both to illustrate to an audience (explain and help to understand) and to influence an audience (consciously and unconsciously). “The metaphor is perhaps one of man's most fruitful potentialities. Its efficacy verges on magic…”, said Ortega y Gasset. It is a thinking tool, along the lines of the definition of philosopher Daniel Dennett: “You cannot do much carpentry with your bare hands and you cannot do much thinking with your bare brain.” Thus, the metaphor is a useful mental model, a mental shortcut. At the same time, the burden of proof in designing a metaphor is low as any claims for similarities are alluded to, rather than stated outright, and the degree of parallelism may vary significantly. Therefore, it is often applied as a powerful tool of manipulation, e.g. in the articles of British Brexiteer politician Boris Johnson in The Sunday Times.
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