In 1987 I was in the USA already for three years (since 1984) and working
on my dissertation on Metaphor in Children. I remember having trouble
explaining to my advisor (at the University of Pennsylvania) the importance
of the asymmetry in metaphor and the reverse asymmetry in play. In order to
get it clearer to him I said something like "Imagine I say 'You are a
pig!'. If I am not playing - that is a metaphor and an insult. But if I am
playing - I might mean something like: 'You are a pig and I am a wolf and
I'll blow your house down'. - and that will not be a metaphor because I
would not be claiming anything about you". This later became a title of a
paper...
Anyway - my work on metaphor was already based on Vygotsky's theory. Being
from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Vygotsky's theory was my basic starting point.
As Mike said before, I had a slight trouble in the USA getting my ideas
through (They were based in CHAT - although we did not call it that at the
time).
Fortunately, my advisor understood my metaphoric and non metaphoric remarks
and let me use my ideas in analyzing children's metaphors for my thesis.
Ana
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