Human's Animal

George Lakoff's Conceptual Metaphor WWW Server is really cool. I found it in Heather Christle's Reading Room in the new incarnation of Slope (The Collected Issues--click on 26).

Here's a sample from the first thing:

A Problem Is A Body Of Water

Source Domain
body of water
Target Domain
problem
Note:

Investigating Problem Is Exploring Water

-- 1 He dived right into the problem.

-- 2 He really immersed himself in the problem.

Difficulty In Solving Is Difficulty In Exploring Water

-- 1 The problem itself is murky.

-- 2 The murky waters of the investigation frustrated him.

Trying To Solve Is Looking For Object In Water

-- 1 He'd been fishing for the answer for weeks.

-- 2 He kept coming up empty.

Solving Is Finding Object In Water

-- 1 Finally the answer surfaced.

The Solution Is An Object In Water

-- 1 The answer's just floating around out there.

Jane Espenson