Doc Edward Morbius ⭕<p><strong>Words, culture, and metaphors for power</strong></p><p>I've long suspected that the Chinese, with a millennia-long history of hydrologic civil engineering projects might have a language of power which borrows from water control structures (dams, gates, levees, bridges, etc.). Some time afterward I realised that Latin certainly does, and retains at least one descriptor in pontifex maximus, that is, "bridge builder in chief*, first applied to Rome's emperors, now its Pope. And I've very recently learnt that Vietnamese language and culture have many words with shared roots in water, including the word for "mother".</p><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42036781" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4</span><span class="invisible">2036781</span></a></p><p>Listening to another David Runciman lecture again (climate / conspiracy), I'm realising that there's another metaphor which has been lodged in Western political discourse for the past half-century, though it had slipped my awareness and is perhaps a bit of a cheat as it comes from a proper name rather than a description. But still:</p><p><strong>Watergate.</strong></p><p><a href="https://toot.cat/tags/china" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>china</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/hydraulics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>hydraulics</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/WaterPowerMetaphors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WaterPowerMetaphors</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/metaphor" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>metaphor</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/watergate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>watergate</span></a></p>