DRUGS are FOOD
(Vehicle/source= Food, Target= Drugs)
and the associated:
USING DRUGS is COOKING
Ex)
- "Baked" or "fried" => High
- "Sugar/ Brown sugar" => Cocaine/ Heroin
- "Feedbag" or "sandwich bag" => Marijuana container
- "Salt and pepper" or "butter" => Majijuana
- "Baker" => Person who smokes
- "Flame cooking" => smoking cocaine over a stove top
- "French fries" or "soup" => Crack
SEX is SWEET FOOD
(Vehicle= sweet food, Target= sex)
We've already discussed the idea of women as dessert, but in popular culture, sweet food can also refer to men and to the act of sex itself. The implications are similar: sex is characterized as a desirable commodity, a fun and tasty treat, and not as something hearty or substantial.
Ex)
- "Candy Shop" by 50 Cent, ft. Olivia- see how many sweet metaphors you can find (I've got at least 9!) This one tends to portray the female as the sexual, sweet food
- "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne- Similar innuendos, with a few new ones thrown in. This time, the male is more associated with the sweet food
- There are also many other food-related sex euphemisms (such as making cookies=> sex) that I will not list here, but can be found online with a search of "food as sex euphemisms"
(Vehicle= food, Target= money)
Like food, money is a valued commodity, and it is the resource which is actually used to buy food. This close economic relationship translates readily into a linguistic one through phrases like the following; notice also that these comparisons tend to involve more substantial, basic, and savory foods. "Bread and butter" for instance, is hardier and more important than "lollipops," and is thus characterized as more important but less of a treat than sex.
Ex)
- Bring home the bacon => to make money for your household
- Fork out/ shell out the cash => to pay money
- Dough => money
- Bread and butter => main income
- Fare => money for a journey or food to eat
- Gravy train => easy, high paying job
- Another high quality song exemplifying this metaphor in pop cuture- "Get Dough" by Fast Money:
Together, these metaphors fall into a special category of comparison- euphemism. Drugs, sex, and money, are all things that are either impolite or uncomfortable to discuss outright in public, so they are replaced by a variety of milder words. Talking openly about drugs in public can be dangerous or lead to trouble with the law, while talking about sex and money are considered socially impolite. However, these three subjects are still much-considered and much-discussed, so they are simply masked by innuendo. RSA Animate does a fascinating job of describing how euphemism and innuendo work in this video-
RSA here suggests that these words function at two levels, where the avoided topic is only thinly veiled by a more acceptable topic. Since food is such an acceptably discussed topic, it is an ideal veil. But if everyone involved can understand the obvious innuendo, why not just get out with it? Jump to 6:25 in the video for a great visual explanation- essentially, it hinges on the idea of mutual knowledge, as all parties involved understand what is going on, but no one has to directly recognize their knowledge.
By nature of euphemism and close social/economic relationships, the English language of food is tied closely with the dialogues of sex, drugs, and money. As Lakoff suggests, these relationships can become engrained in our actual understanding of the concepts, affecting the way we treat and think about our lives.
Video credits: YouTube
Brilliant and insightful as always. I also enjoyed how you posted it at 4:20 AM
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