Released on = December 28, 2006, 5:44 pm

Press Release Author = John D. Casnig

Industry = Entertainment

Press Release Summary = The annual Top Ten List of Metaphors has been released for
2006. The list, gathered from various forms of media, shows the effect of current
affairs and concerns on contemporary figurative language. At the top of the list is
\"fusion\", chosen for its strong presence in current products and marketing.

Press Release Body = Kingston, ON, Canada December 28/2006 -- The Metaphor
Observatory in
has released their second annual Top Ten List of Metaphors in the media. The list of
metaphors, informally gathered from newscasts, products, music, advertisements and
the press, shows how current social concerns are reflected in figurative language.
Metaphors are judged for their accuracy, popularity, impact and relevance to
the past year.

Topping this year\'s list is \"fusion\", which found itself in product names and slogans
from hair and hair removal products through highway and snow vehicles. Among other
metaphors appearing on this years list are \"Stay the course\" from President George
Bush and \"Foley Fallout\", a headline from the Mark Foley scandal.

The Metaphor Observatory\'s list of top metaphors is chosen based on:
accuracy (ie: Does it make sense as a metaphor?)
popularity (ie: Did it catch on?)
impact (ie: Did it successfully communicate to its audience? )
relevance to the year in question (ie: Is it contemporary? ).

The Metaphor Observatory\'s Top Ten Metaphors for the year 2006:

1) fusion - Thanks in part to mega-marketing by both Gillette and Ford, the superhot
metaphor \"fusion\" tops this year\'s list hands down. Among the many other products
credited for putting \"fusion\" in its place: Denny\'s D-Fusion Drinks, Herbal Essences
Fruit Fusions Collection, the Hoover Fusion Cyclonic Upright Vacuum and Wow Wee\'s
robotic \"fusion of technology and personality\". Fusion, today you are a star!

2) course - Of course, we couldn\'t let George Bush\'s sea-weavery go unnoted. Ever
since his decision to scuttle the \"stay the course in Iraq\" tub-thump in late
October, newscasters have scrambled to salvage what they could with headlines like
\"changing the course in Iraq\". Awarded posthumously the title \"Catch Phrase of the
Year\" by the Global Language Monitor, \"stay the course\" is charted to join the
president\'s precedent \"road map to peace\" in the navigational metaphor boneyard.

3)fallout - Hitting every form of press from Three Mile Island all the way to
Chernobyl was the negatively-charged article \"Foley Fallout\". The explosive headline
was scattered across several networks in the U.S. and in blogs around the world, and
lasted so long on C.N.N. that they even changed the font to keep it fresh. Part of
the currently trendy nuclear family of metaphors, \"fallout\" is the black sheep,
associating itself with any story involving political scandal and its
career-crushing repercussions. Fallout spends little time alone these days.

4) meltdown - Metaphor hits the big screen this year and in a mammoth way. \"Ice Age:
The Meltdown\" topped the box office in the spring, triggering a detectable rise in
\"meltdown\" use this year. Le Glacier Dairy Queen\'s Chili Meltdown GrillBurger and
Canadian Tire\'s summer Price Meltdown along with supercool anchor Anderson Cooper\'s
feature \"Melting Pot or Meltdown\" helped this nucleaphor hit the critical masses in
2006.

5) bitch - Though playing dead in various dialects as a spiteful person or strong
woman, the \"bitch\" metaphor began littering the hip-hop world dog-years ago with the
meaning (sexual) underling. In recent years, however, \"bitch\" has jumped the lingo
fence of hip-hop and is doing tricks in other dialects. Just ask The Simpsons\' old
dawg Mr. Burns, who fetched a few raised eyebrows this spring with the primetime
Sunday comeback \"Dream on, bitch.\" Youthful pigskin-headed cell-mate Stewie Griffin
has been known to bark out the odd bitch-equals-underling too, making this a top
choice metaphor for mouthy characters of all ages and backgrounds.

6) fuel - While gas prices spiked and let the air out of S.U.V. sales, energy drink
sales were skyrocketing. Natural health pop-alike Mountain Dew Energy, first
launched in 2002 in Canada, aptly decided to change its pitch slightly in 2006
becoming \"Dew Fuel\". Meanwhile, newswriters continued to inject \"fuel\" into
headlines, firing off such titles as \"Fuelling Poverty\", \"Black History Month: Does
It Fuel Racism?\" and \"Fuelling the War in Iraq\".

7) hybrid - Hybrid vehicles enjoyed greater attention this year as drivers felt more
pressure at the pumps. Ironically piggish in its etymology (a crossbreed between a
wild boar and a tame sow), \"hybrid\" now signifies cleaner, sippier vehicular
technology far removed from the rolling, swilling filth of its porcine roots. The
nearly unstoppable movement of hybrids into the broader auto market assures us that
this metaphor has legs, and a future worthy of investment. That\'s some pig.

8) chocolate - New Orleans\' mayor Ray Nagin spent a little time in political hot
water early this year when he served up the scalding \"It\'s time for us to rebuild
New Orleans - the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans\". Sized up as racist
and seized on by the unimpressed press, Nagin later retrofitted the recipe by
claiming he was speaking of chocolate, (the hot beverage, especially the one made
with milk, not water), and not chocolate (the candy bar, not made with milk, but it
could be, too). He apologized for any confusion. Dissent soon enough melted away and
Nagin was re-elected - however his recipe for success this election contained
measurably far less milk than it used to.

9) jazz - This year\'s release of Diet Pepsi \"Jazz\" brings together three key
elements: jazz, only one of a collection of music metaphors hitting the
product-naming scene in recent years; New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, on our
minds since last year\'s devastation; and fusion, a popular form of jazz, and popular
form of metaphor. Though popster Pepsi\'s product may itself one day fizz out, its
name will remain an uncanny benchmark in contemporary metaphor.

10) blackjack - The new smart phone by Samsung with a name resembling its rival the
BlackBerry. The trick here is that while gambling metaphors are due to rise in
popularity, cell-phones and computers prefer to associate themselves with
reliability rather than risk. If the BlackJack is dealt a blow from a pending
trademark suit by BlackBerry, Samsung will have to hit the deck and shuffle along.

The complete article along with an abbreviated list can be found at
http://metaphorobservatory.blogspot.com .

\"The Top Ten List of Metaphors is entertaining, but it also has an anthropological
and historical
significance. A metaphor is born when we substitute one concept for another in
order to convey an idea,\" said John Casnig, creator of The Metaphor Observatory. \"We
normally reach for concepts that are physically close at hand, usually found on our
body or in our immediate environment.

\"However, the media will choose metaphors based on concepts that are more familiar
to everyone, such as important news or events. If these \"contemporary metaphors\" are
broadly accepted by the public, it is because they are reflecting what is foremost
on people\'s minds,\" he added. \"During baseball season, for example, baseball
metaphors are frequently used. At any given time, according to The Metaphor
Observatory, society\'s Freudian
Slip is showing.\"

The Metaphor Observatory is an editorial blog \"dedicated to detecting
metaphor usage in contemporary media\". It is directly attached to Knowgramming.com,
a web site providing metaphor learning resources to roughly
one million students, teachers and businesses annually.

Web Site = http://metaphorobservatory.blogspot.com/

Contact Details = The Metaphor Observatory
P.O. Box 1383
Kingston, Ontario
Canada
K7L-5C6
613-547-2156
observatory@metaphors.org