Perception of the Use of Metaphor by an Interlocutor in Discourse

In 4 experiments, we examine the perceptions of metaphor use in interactive communication (e-mails or chat transcriptions). We find metaphor use, especially novel metaphor, serves as a cue that the interlocutor is male. This effect is not based on knowledge of interlocutor gender per se but is driven by metaphor use. The findings were most robust when participants were directly asked about interlocutor gender but also were found in indirect questions about the interlocutors. We take these data as contrary to an earlier speculation that male use of metaphor is a form of orisk takingo and as more consistent with the notion that metaphor use implicates speaker intentions and identity.