meaning of a metaphor

English translation: [see below]

13:16 Jul 11, 2016

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

English term or phrase: meaning of a metaphor

Hello everyone,

About Margaret Thatcher:

Did you know that she grew up in a home that had no indoor plumbing? Her father believed in austerity and made no concessions for anything not essential. This and many other formative experiences profoundly shaped Thatcher’s beliefs as a politician. She used herself as a metaphor for what she felt was missing in the United Kingdom: ***a sense of self-determination and redemption through hard work and delayed gratification.*** She made meaning of her life in a way that aligned with what she wanted the British people to understand and buy into, and it was the meaning she infused into her policies, and not the policies themselves, that got them through.

I might well be wrong but I think the key message of this metaphor is as follows: British people should work hard without thinking about immediate reward.

What I can't understand is why self-determination and redemption are included in the metaphor.

Did Margaret Thatcher think that Britsh people were guilty of something?
Could someone explain it in plain English please?

Thank you.

Mikhail Korolev KudoZ activity Questions: 2414 (none open) (10 closed without grading) Answers: 130
Local time: 04:30

Selected answer:[see below]

Explanation:
It means hard work and delayed gratification allowed them to take control of their destiny and improve their lives.

Redemption does not have a religious meaning here.

REDEMPTION
*1. The act of making something better or more acceptable*

2. The act of exchanging something for money, an award, etc.

3. Christianity : the act of saving people from sin and evil : the fact of being saved from sin or evil

Selected response from:

philgoddard
United States

Grading comment

Many thanks to everyone.
Thank you, phil.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +5

[see below]

philgoddard

3 +1

meaning in your context (saving from evil and bad things happening)

Lingua 5B

Summary of reference entries provided

Refs. and comments

Taña Dalglish

Answers

48 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

meaning in your context (saving from evil and bad things happening)

Explanation:
is probably this one:

Noun1. redemption - (theology) the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil

salvation
deliverance, rescue, saving, delivery - recovery or preservation from loss or danger; "work is the deliverance of mankind"; "a surgeon's job is the saving of lives"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 48 mins (2016-07-11 14:04:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/redemption

Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 03:30
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Serbian,

Croatian

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

[see below]

philgoddard
United States
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

Grading comment

Many thanks to everyone.
Thank you, phil.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

AllegroTrans: justification through hard work in other words; a pity she turned out the way she did, with so little apparent compassion and such loathing for the underprivileged and the Irish

1 hr

agree

katsy: Religious dogma (protestantism here) is not needed to explain the phrase but given MT's background it's tempting to couch this view with terms having a religious connotation

3 hrs

agree

Yvonne Gallagher

9 hrs

agree

Yasutomo Kanazawa

13 hrs

agree

Tony M: Well expressed! I think the notion is easier to understand as 'to redeem oneself' — a typical EN characteristic, with the self-deprecating, self-excusing kind of attitude once so prevalent in the UK. As if one needs to justify one's own existence!

13 hrs

Reference comments

3 hrs peer agreement (net): +4

Reference: Refs. and comments

Reference information:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=7134581
Her formative experiences
shaped Thatcher’s beliefs as a
politician. She used herself as
a metaphor for what she felt
was missing in the nation, a
**sense of self-determination
and redemption through hard
work and delayed gratification.**
She made meaning of her life
in a way that aligned with what
she wanted the British people
to understand and buy into,
and it was the meaning she
infused into her policies that
got them through.
Edited extract from ‘Act Like
a Leader, Think Like a
Leader’ by Herminia Ibarra,
reproduced with permission

http://theunboundedspirit.com/250-motivational-quotes-saying...
“What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.”
– Margaret Thatcher

In some ways, Thatcher's philosophy matched that of Obama's who was greatly influenced by his mother
http://jungiansociety.org/images/e-journal/Volume-5/Selig-20...
Obama learned his values from his mother: “honesty, empathy, discipline, delayed gratification, and hard work. She raged at poverty and injustice, and scorned those who were indifferent to both,” ....

One of the pillars of Margaret Thatcher's philosophy was: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification
Delayed gratification, or deferred gratification, is the ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward. Generally, delayed gratification is associated with resisting a smaller but more immediate reward in order to receive a larger or more enduring reward later.

This might be off the track somewhat, but the article speaks to Thatcher, her views, etc. and what she tried to achieve (many may not take kindly to it, and of course there are vast opinions, feelings about Thatcher, and often viewed quite negatively too).

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/02/god-ec...
Thatcher herself had been a preacher before she entered politics, and even though she transferred this missionary energy from pulpit to podium, her religious values remained crucial. On becoming Conservative leader, she saw it as her chief mission to discredit the assumed moral superiority of socialism and reconnect the broken link between Protestant and capitalist values in Britain. Preaching from the pulpit on several occasions – most famously to the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly in 1988 – Thatcher unashamedly asserted the Biblical case for the sovereignty of individual liberty and the ‘invisible hand’. Thatcher’s pledge, of course, was that greater wealth would not encourage selfishness but neighbourliness. With more money in our pocket and less dependency on the state, we would be free to exercise our moral virtue and perform our duty as Good Samaritans.

klp, there is so much information available on line regarding Margaret Thatcher, so it should not be difficult to research the area you are looking for.

Taña Dalglish
Jamaica
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Note to reference poster

Asker: Thank you, Taña.

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:

ProZ.com term search

Search millions of term translations

meaning of a metaphor

English translation: [see below]

Answers

Reference comments

KudoZ™ translation help

Your current localization setting

Select a language

meaning of a metaphor

English translation: [see below]

Answers

Reference comments

KudoZ™ translation help

You have native languages that can be verified

Your current localization setting

Select a language