UKC

Hi! This post is for everyone who likes mountaineering or is a mountaineer. Anyway, I am currently conducting a research in linguistics about how usage of certain metaphors can influence people's reasoning about different topics. In my case, it's the usage of metaphors related to war in the context of mountaineering (for example, conquering a mountain). I've already done the quantitative part of the research with participants (who didn't know the purpose of the study), but what I'm lacking are qualitative results. If you are interested, please fill out this google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Bfy7yYlADpsJbD0nIMaeabvYK5cEdCuIFMDZ9wfXcb... (it shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes of your time) to help me get my Master's degree. Everything is explained in more detail in the form! Thank you so much in advance for helping me advance the world's linguistic knowledge  

btw, for anyone interested, I work as a copywriter for a company that sells, among other sports, various mountaineering trips - that's how I got interested in this topic. If you have more questions about that or about linguistics, feel free to start some kind of a discussion. It really wasn't my intention to just "spam" the forum and leave  

Submitted. I have always loathed war metaphors and I'm amazed they're still used.

I think they're in retreat though.

This will definitely be my last post on the matter.

I've completed your form - I hope you find my responses useful to some extent.

I think you may be overstating the prevalence of these metaphors or misunderstanding the irony in their occasional deployment - "Conquistadors of the Useless"  for example seems to be a military metaphor that deconstructs itself and the "siege style" expedition book was successfully lampooned by "The Ascent of Rum Doodle" 70 years ago. 

I hope you are successful in your dissertation despite these reservations. 
 

Good luck!

Why this particular hill to die on?

Because it was there?

Thank you! I am really grateful to everyone who has submitted their answers. Thank you also for wishing me luck with my thesis   

I'll share my thesis here once it's done for anyone who is interested 

You need to allow more space for answers on that form if you can.

To extend what I was writing there about your subject and environmental issues, the use of war metaphors projects mountaineering as a zero sum game; winner and loser, victory and defeat.  Whilst that was inevitable following on from the second world war, it's inappropriate now.  Now, we want more than that; we want minimal environmental damage, carbon offsetting, leave no trace ethics.  War metaphors don't work when we frame the story this way.  It's more seduction than battle, and perhaps more agape than eros.

So can that 'influence people's reasoning', to use your phrase?  Strictly speaking no, because I think the word 'reasoning' is the wrong one.  It can certainly influence their perception of a story, or reaction to marketing.

Anyway, enough from me.  Good luck with your thesis.

T.