Figurative Language Used to Describe Frailty

In a research article published in the Journal of Frailty & Aging, we report on a literature study that examined the use of figurative language to describe frailty. I am highly interested in communication and language, and given that the term frailty can mean many different things depending on who you ask or what frailty assessment instrument you select, I wanted to see how frailty has been described in the literature using metaphorical or other figurative terms. The review led us to characterize our findings about figurative expressions into six categories: frailty as 1) a complex, multifaceted concept; 2) an important issue in health and medicine; 3) indicative of something that is failing or faulty; 4) indicative of fragility; 5) representative of vulnerable, ignored persons; and 6) an opportunity for self-awareness and reflection. As we noted in our concluding remarks: "Figurative language allows one to “test” concepts by using real-world comparisons; and it offers communication pathways that can function across disciplines. Creative comparisons that elucidate key problems facing the field may provide insights into evolving areas of frailty research and potentially point toward solutions to the lingering questions of how to meaningfully communicate about frailty."

You can access the full article here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5997276/