The Metaphorical Mind

What our language reveals about how we think and who we are

Christopher H. Ramey, Ph.D., is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Psychology at Drexel University, specializing in cognitive psychology. See full bio

August 25, 2008, Philosophy

Comments on "Did Usain Bolt have a Phelpsian Olympics or Phelps a Boltian?"

Did Usain Bolt have a Phelpsian Olympics or Phelps a Boltian?

By Christopher H. Ramey, Ph.D. on August 25, 2008 in The Metaphorical Mind

As the Olympics have drawn to a close, we might well ask with Juliet, “What’s in a name?” What people will likely remember from the Olympics are two singular athletic performances, that of swimmer Michael Phelps and runner Usain Bolt. So, did Usain Bolt have a Phelpsian Olympics or Phelps a Boltian? The potential words Phelpsian and Boltian are examples of eponyms (a linguistic and literary device in which a person’s name can come to symbolize, refer to, or otherwise lend itself to a quality or item. Read More

Yeah, our local station is

Submitted by Maya on August 27, 2008 - 10:19am.

Yeah, our local station is still waiting for their meteorologist to get a suit that fits him.

Great question. I guess it means that our language has no memory for biographies. It's like how decomposing leaf litter becomes part of the soil. Although I think that using a person's name in that way has a kind of Orwellian (no pun intended, not even sure if that is a pun) implication, for example the word "Darwinian" as opposed to a simple reference to evolution or natural selection.

meteorologists

Submitted by Christopher H. Ramey, Ph.D. on August 28, 2008 - 12:26pm.

Philadelphia, and now Chicago, had a meteorologist named Amy Freeze. Also, our main NBC guy is "Hurricane" Schwartz. They're an interesting fraternity.

Orwell and 1984 always stand out in my mind for the power of language and our memory of words and their meaning.

Thanks for stopping by again!