DEN SJUKE OCH EUROPA - En analys av metaforen Europas sjuke man

Abstract

The sick man of Europe is a metaphor describing a European country experiencing a time of economic difficulty or impoverishment. This interpretation is not in accordance with how the metaphor is used today which the aim of this essay is to demonstrate. Metaphors are used every day by almost everyone. Coupled with the persuasive power they hold and the fact that the human mind thinks largely in metaphorical terms make them interesting to study. To demonstrate the point of this essay and suggest a revised explanation of what the metaphor means this essay has conducted a metaphor analysis. Firstly, a suitable corpus was selected on the criteria that the metaphor is used in a metaphorical way to describe a geographical area, secondly an overview of how the metaphor is used in our time has been made. Lastly, a deep analysis of the metaphor was conducted where the metaphor’s three parts were analyzed individually. The result of the analysis was that the sick man of Europe is a container metaphor used to describe the decline within a certain subject such as economy or public health of a geographic area within Europe.