Abstract
AbstractThis chapter proposes some reflections on the lively debate about the use of war metaphors to talk about the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of the reflection is not metaphors and its definitions, but the pervasiveness of the military terminology in public discourse and, more generally, the weight of linguistic choices in crises. The basic assumption is that there are no “right” or “wrong” metaphors regardless of discursive contexts and communication purposes. On this basis, the point is neither to attack nor to defend the war metaphor but to show that the more comprehensive the range of metaphors at our disposal is, the more profound is our experience of the world. Therefore, instead of attacking war metaphors it is more useful to enrich the range of expressions to talk about the pandemic. What is really important is the awareness that expressive choices are not details and words are never just words.
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