Financial hurricane: the use of a word related to weather to explain the global economic crisis

Abstract

The use of metaphors is intrinsically related to the way we talk, think and act. The choices we make between a metaphor and another suggest the type of person we are in terms of culture, ideas and opinions (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980). In this paper we aim at analyzing the use of words related to weather in economic articles. For that, we are going to consider The Economist magazine website as our universe. The fifty most recent articles which present occurrences of the word hurricane were analyzed. Of all, five occurrences of metaphorical meanings of the noun hurricane were registered. The figurative image of hurricane is associated with economics to help people understand the effects of the economic crisis, making things likely enough and conveying the idea of economic crisis as an adversary.