How people understand and often misunderstand each other fascinates me. How is something that makes so much sense to me so completely misunderstood by someone else. Why is it so hard for someone to learn a new language, despite knowing the words, and even speak their own language in a different country.
When I go back to visit South Africa and speak Afrikaans to the people there, despite the fact that we are both speaking the same language, the way we talk is completely different and what I say is not understood by them and what they say confounds me as to what they mean.
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. argue in “Concepts we live by”, Chapter 1 in “Metaphors we live by” that this is because our thought processes and understanding are largely metaphorical, metaphor is nor just a matter of language, that is, of mere words. We shall argue that, on the contrary, human thought processes are largely metaphorical.
(Emphasis theirs.)
They use the example of the extended metaphor that our culture uses, Argument is War.
- Your claims are indefensible.
- He attacked every weak point in my argument
- His criticisms were right on target
- I demolished his argument
- I’ve never won an argument with him.
- You disagree? Okay, shoot!
- If you use that strategy, he’ll wipe you out.
- He shot down all of my arguments.
Without the understanding of the extended metaphor, our intentions are misunderstood. It’s not just about understand the language, the words, it’s also about understanding the society, their thinking, the extended metaphors they share.
In terms of design, this is also applicable. Just as we speak based on metaphor, we also design based on metaphor. Someone won’t understand your designs if they don’t share the same extended metaphors you have, so when you design for an audience it’s important to understand that market and how they think. Don’t be surprised if they don’t understand your work if you didn’t take the time to learn to understand them.
