2.2. The metaphor “Anger is Heat” in English and the equivalent in Vietnamese
2.2.2. The English version “Anger is Fire” and the Vietnamese equivalent
The correspondences in the ontology:
Source Target
The fire The anger
The thing burning The angry person
The cause of the fire The cause of the anger The intensity of the fire The intensity of the anger
The physical damage to the thing burning
Metal damage to the angry person
The capacity of the thing burning to serve its normal function
The capacity of the angry person to function normally
The danger of the fire to things nearby Danger of the anger to other people
The correspondences in knowledge:
Source: Target:
Things can burn at low intensity for a long time and then burst into flame
People can be angry at a low intensity for a long time and then suddenly become extremely angry
Fires are dangerous to things nearby Angry people are dangerous to other people
Things consumed by fire cannot serve their normal function
At the limit of the anger scale, people cannot function normally
Based on these correspondences, the central metaphor “Anger is Fire” in both English and Vietnamese has a number of elaborations. Let us consider following examples of metaphorical expressions which highlight the cause of anger, the intensity and duration of anger, the danger of angry people to others, and the
damage of anger to the angry person to find out similarities and differences between the two languages:
The cause of anger In English:
- Those are inflammatory remarks. (Lakoff and Kovecses: 1983) - What you said inflamed him. (Lakoff and Kovecses: 1983)
- Your insincere apology just added fuel to the fire. (Lakoff and Kovecses:
1983) In Vietnamese:
- Các cuộc không kích của NATO vào hai bốt quân sự ở biên giới
Afghanistan vào đêm hôm 25/11 đã đổ thêm dầu cho ngọn lửa giận dữ của Pakistan vốn đã được nhen nhóm sau vụ đột kích của Hoa Kỳ tiêu diệt Osama Bin Laden hồi tháng Năm. (http://www.baomoi.com/Pakistan-Ban- tra-neu-bi-NATO-tan-cong/119/7516227.epi)
- Từng đợt mắng chửi cứ xoáy vào tai, làm cho ông ta hai mắt như nảy lửa.
(Trần Bá Tiến: 2009)
The intensity and duration of anger In English:
- She was smoldering with rage as she explained how her son had been killed. (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/smoulder) - As he heard more about the plan to develop the area for industrial use he started doing a slow burn.
(http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/do+a+slow+burn)
- My new assistant's mistakes are so maddening! I've never been so burned up in my life. (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/burned+up)
In Vietnamese:
- Chồng giận thì vợ bớt lời/ Cơm sôi nhỏ lửa một đời không khê.
(http://www.vnu.edu.vn/btdhqghn/?C2003/N10866/Com-soi-nho-lua-mot- doi-khong-khe.htm)
- Sau khi bày tỏ sự tức giận vẫn âm ỉ bao lâu nay của Warsaw từ sau sự kiện Tổng thống Obama bất ngờ hủy bỏ kế hoạch lá chắn tên lửa gây tranh cãi ở Ba Lan hồi năm 2009, Tổng thống Bronislaw Komorowski cho biết, Ba Lan sẽ thiết lập một hệ thống phòng thủ tên lửa riêng để đảm bảo an ninh quốc gia. (http://www.vnmedia.vn/NewsDetail.asp?NewsId=307868&CatId=17) - Sau khi đoạn video một cô gái bị lực lượng an ninh Ai Cập lột bung áo và hành giữa thủ đô Cairo được đăng tải, nó đã thổi bùng lên ngọn lửa tức giận trong lòng những người biểu tình, khiến họ đổ xuống đường lên án.
(http://www.tinmoi.vn/xuong-duong-bieu-tinh-vi-co-gưai-bi-canh-sat-danh- ư08687617.html)
- Anh qua nhiều lắm làng thiêu rụi Khét khói bom trên xác mẹ già Đất uất căm hờn người nổi giận
Lửa bừng trong mắt kẻ không cha. (Phan Duy Nhân: 1984)
- Những ánh mắt ấy làm cho lửa giận bốc lên ngùn ngụt trong lòng cậu.
(http://docsachcungcon.com/a/news?t=6&id=921365)
The danger of angry people to others In English:
- The former South African president was so incensed that he was 'breathing fire' down the telephone line at the-then Welsh Secretary Peter Hain in protest at the 2003 military action. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article- 1311545/Nelson-Mandela-breathed-phone-British-government-official- Blairs-decision-invade-Iraq.html#ixzz24R1BFRNM)
In Vietnamese:
We do not find any examples of metaphorical expressions of the version “ANger is Fire” to express this idea in Vietnamese.
Many people think that the expression “breathe fire” in English shares the same sense with the expression “hét ra lửa” in Vietnamese. However, they are in different sense. “breathe fire” in English means someone is so angry about
something that the angry person may does something that is dangerous to the others;
while the expression “hét ra lửa” in Vietnamese implies a powerful and imperious person who usually intimidate others.
The damage of anger to the angry person In English:
- He was consumed by his anger. (Lakoff and Kovecses: 1983) In Vietnamese:
- Nếu ta không làm chủ được tức giận thì tức giận là ngọn lửa đang thiêu đốt tâm can mình. (http://blog.tamtay.vn/entry/view/715042)
- Cơn giận cướp đi của bạn sự thoải mái của cả thân và tâm. Và chừng nào mà bạn còn nuôi niềm sân hận, cơn giận sẽ bùng lên thiêu đốt và hành hạ bạn. (http://tinhdo.net/songanlac/223-giacuacongian.html)
It can be seen from the examples above that the version “Anger is Fire” both in English and in Vietnamese highlights the same things. However, in English, anger is usually conceptualized as fire in the whole body; in contrast, in Vietnamese, anger is usually conceptualized as fire in parts of the body such as “lòng, mắt, tâm can”.
After studying central metaphor “Anger is Heat” in English and in Vietnamese I would like to make some comments:
The central metaphor “Anger is Heat” both in English and in Vietnamese is based on the folk theory of physiological effects of anger. This metaphor has two
versions: the version “Anger is the Heat of a Hot Fluid in a Container” when the central metaphor is applied to fluids and the version “Anger is Fire” when the central metaphor is applied to solids.
English has more metaphorical expressions and levels to describe anger than Vietnamese.
Though both English and Vietnamese people conceptualize anger as the heat of a hot fluid and fire but the containers are different. In English the whole body is mainly applied to the container; in contrast, in Vietnamese, parts of the body are mainly applied to the container. A question arises that why Vietnamese tends to utilize more body parts for the container but English tends to use the whole body.
We will find the answer in next part.