Photo: Pop!Tech / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
George Lakoff is one of those thinkers whose ideas quietly rewired how I notice everyday language. His core thesis, that conceptual metaphors shape how we reason about hard things, sounds abstract until you catch yourself describing an argument as a war or time as money. I admire that he spent decades at Berkeley building this out rather than chasing one viral idea. He also waded into politics, arguing framing decides debates, which made him controversial. To me that's the mark of a cognitive linguist who refused to stay in the lab and insisted his work actually mattered out in the world.
Overview
George Philip Lakoff ( LAY-kawf; born May 24, 1941) is an American cognitive linguist and philosopher, best known for his thesis that people's lives are significantly influenced by the conceptual metaphors they use to explain complex phenomena. Lakoff served as professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1972 until his retirement in 2016.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- George Lakoff
- Name (Japanese)
- ジョージ・レイコフ
- Reading
- じょーじ・れいこふ
- Born
- May 24, 1941 (age 85)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Snake
- Origin
- Bayonne, New Jersey, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- linguist / university teacher / writer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Indiana University
Awards & achievements
- Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Linguist — see all → · University teacher — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.