On Using Metaphors of War in Public Discourse

(Hunker down! Hold your fire! Here comes Lieutenant Summers from the Word Police!)

It seems to me that television news is hopelessly awash in metaphors of war and violence.

My plea today: Let’s see if we citizens can come up with more peaceable ones instead.

Here are some current ones that occur to me:

An arsenal (Numerous, maybe?)

Battlefront

Battleground states (Why not contested states?)

Beat. See “We’re gonna fight” below. (How about defeat?)

Bite the bullet (Quick, call my dentist!)

Blockbuster report

Bombshell

Cannon fodder

Caught off guard

Close ranks

Common enemy

Dodged a bullet

Double edged sword

Frontline worker

He has more arrows in his quiver

He has a short fuse

In the crosshairs

In the trenches

It’s the War on (select one or more: terror, COVID, cancer, poverty, drugs, flatulence, etc.)

Knives are out

Knocked out

Lashed out

Laying low (“seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go”)

Magic bullet

Minefield

Powder keg

Pull the trigger on...

Rally the troops

Shot down (Anyone for thwarted?)

Smoking gun

Soldiers (Use instead what they really are: rescue teams, firefighters, etc.)

Stabbed in the back

Target of an investigation (Ummm….the subject of an investigation, perhaps?)

Take no prisoners

Take a stab at

Taking flack

The enemy is… (Insert endless selections here)

Under fire

Up in arms

Uphill battle

War chest

War horse

We’re gonna fight, fight, fight…. (For what? More pie and ice cream?)

Do you have any suggestions or observations? Tell me what you think.