Orakova Akerke Orakovna

Eurasian National University named after L.N.Gumilev

Zoo metaphors in different cultures.

The giraffe’s neck, the tiger’s sharp claws, and the skink lizard’s ability to drop off its tail give these animals successful survival advantages.

When we hear the fable “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” we learn, without having it spelled out to us, that nobody believes liars even when they tell the truth. We understand the lesson better than if it had been spelled out to us, because we feel the boy’s pain and fear inviting his fate. We associate his fate with what could happen to us if we followed his bad habit of repeatedly raising false alarms.

Comparing a human being to an animal has old traditions in many cultures. The origin of these zoo metaphors can be found in folk mythology and religion, where an animal is represented as having intellectual and spiritual human properties or as having supernatural powers.

Gods, animals, and certain creatures which have elements of both human and animal are main characters in mythological and folkloristic tales and play a major role in the development of the behavior of the human being. Certain cultural beliefs of animals also influence the behavior of a human being as well as how one or another animal is seen in certain cultures. All of these aspects contribute greatly to the behavior of the human being not only culture-specifically, but also universally.

The bee is one of the few insects which plays a major role in many cultures. It is believed to be a sacred insect and considered to be the bridge between the natural world and the underworld.

Some archaic Greek cities, such as Hyrai (hyron meant “swarm of bees” in Cretan), incorporate the name of the bee in their names.

Austerja, the goddess of bees, and Bubilas, the god of bees, both are deeply rooted in Lithuanian mythology. People sacrificed grasslands for Austerja and honey for Bubilas believing that it will make bees swarm better.

Dogs play a significant role in many cultures. The dog is also one of the twelve animals honored in Chinese astrology and is believed to be the most loyal animal to the human being. In the Christian religion Jesus told the story of the poor man named Lazarus, whose sores were licked by street dogs.

Most Muslims do not keep pet dogs because of the belief that they are unclean. This comes from several traditions concerning Muhammad’s attitude towards dogs.

In some cultures, the fox appears as an animal possessed with magic powers, or as

a symbol of cunning and trickery in folklore.

In European culture, the fox is often associated with transformation, i.e., tales of fox transformation into humans and vice versa, as well as stories about anthropomorphic animals imbued with human characteristics. Some of the first images of the fox in literature are pictured around 6 BC in Aesop's fables, such as The Fox and the Grapes.

Pigs are a frequent source of reference in many cultures and carry more than one characteristic. Most of the time, pigs are seen as unclean, rude, clumsy and lazy animals. In non-pork-eating religions, such as Judaism and Islam, pigs are treated as inedible animals and carry the concept of treift (food that is not in accord with Jewish law) and haram (unlawful food according to the book of Islam). In pork-eating cultures, the pig is seen from a more benign perspective. Greek mythology includes Demeter, among other gods and goddesses, as the goddess of pigs. Ancient Romans sacrificed a pig, together with a ram and a bull, which was one of the most celebratory acts of the Roman religion (ibid). The Celts had

Moccus, the god of swine, who later, under Roman occupation, was identified with Mercury. One of the attributes of The Dagda, a god in Irish mythology, is the cauldron with cooked pork .

The metaphor has been used since ancient times and in the present research it is taken as a broad term which covers many figures of speech. Metaphor is the application of a strange term either transferred from the genus and applied to the species or from the species and applied to the genus, or from

one species to another or else by analogy.

The contemporary view suggests that the metaphor is a property of concepts and not of words, that the function of metaphor is to better understand certain concepts, and that the metaphor is not necessarily used for esthetic and artistic purposes. Lakoff and Johnson also suggest that the metaphor is often not based on similarity. Their statement is that metaphor is not a linguistic ornament, but rather an inevitable process of human thought and reasoning. New metaphors can be created every day by anybody.

The importance of figurative language plays a major role in any kind of literary or

linguistic work. Each word has a literal meaning, but it can also mean something other than the literal meaning suggests. A woman denotes a female person, but bitch, vixen, fox, and cat can also denote a female person, adding more specific reference to the meaning.

Figurative language allows stretching the meanings of the word as well as giving meaning to expressions, which when handled in their literal meaning have no significant sense. For example in English, to play the bear has little or no sense in its literal meaning. It does not mean that somebody is living like the bear, hibernating, hunting, reproducing.

The term zoo metaphor will refer to metaphors in which the behavior, emotion or appearance of an animal is a reference to the behavior, emotion or appearance of the human.

The zoo metaphor is a linguistic device in which a word or phrase literally denotes a kind of object or idea used figuratively for something else, as a way of suggesting likeness or analogy between them.

When a human being is compared to an animal, it is usually their less attractive qualities that are highlighted by the comparison. Out of all domestic cattle, it is only the bull that has a positive connotation: healthy as a bull, you could say of a man of robust health. At the same time, if a woman is compared to a cow, the only simile is fat as a cow.

Horses symbolize hard work, and it is often said of workaholics that they are plowing like a horse. Intriguingly, a technical word that is used to describe gray horses forms part of expressions to “lie like a gray gelding,” meaning to say blatant lies, and “ravings of a gray mare,” meaning utter nonsense.

The main characters in Russian folk tales are the wolf, the fox, the hare and the bear. The traits they personify in those tales have given birth to the following expressions: hungry as a wolf; crafty like a fox; and cowardly like a hare. Interestingly, fare-dodgers on public transport are popularly known as hares.

As for the bear, that is in real life is a dangerous predator, in Russian folk tales, he is usually represented as a clumsy but goodhearted creature. A case in point is the mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, Misha the bear. At the same time, a large and clumsy person is more likely to be compared to an elephant, as in the phrase “like an elephant in a china shop.”

Another creature of the animal world that is associated with industry and hard work is the ant, thanks to a classical fable by Ivan Krylov, in which it is juxtaposed with a careless dragonfly. Interestingly, the bee, whose stings could be quite dangerous for humans, has positive connotations as in the phrase “to work like a bee,” while quite harmless flies get a bad name, as in the phase “importunate like a fly.”

Comparisons to birds usually have positive connotations: to sing like a nightingale; slender like a swan; wise as an owl; quick as a sparrow; and proud as an eagle. At the same time, some birds are associated with negative traits: “fierce like a vulture” you could say of an aggressive and angry man; she is “prattling like a magpie” you could say of a particularly talkative woman; while a mother who does not take good care of her children is sometimes called a cuckoo. A person who takes his or her time when doing anything is compared to a tortoise, while somebody who can run very fast is sometimes compared to a swift-footed deer.

The world of fish offers numerous linguistic comparisons too: to be “silent like a fish”; to feel like “fish in water”; like a “fish beating against the ice,” meaning to struggle desperately. An ironic pun – to be silent like a fish against the ice – means to keep mum, even though you may be desperate.

Zoo metaphors are often used to characterize leadership styles. For example lion means aggression, command, control and eagle means great instinct and strategy.

Zoo metaphor is a powerful tool to stimulate conversations about behaviour and behavioural differences and interactions. Reflective conversations stimulated using animals metaphor can work well across cultures provided the facilitator is sensitive to different cultural perceptions and interpretations.