ABSTRACT
Metaphorical language, especially the use of culinary metaphors, is ubiquitous in medical education and practice. Rarely, however, is this language seen for what it is—creative, imaginative, and even psychologically protective—and is instead considered succinct and accurately descriptive. This chapter explores the complexity of metaphorical language and medical slang and how they point to the underlying culture of medicine that distances clinicians and learners from the existential weight of serious illness, suffering, and death. It argues that practitioners’ and trainees’ inabilities to recognise the dissonance created by using aesthetically appealing metaphors to describe sources of pain and suffering is a symptom of a much larger problem in medicine—namely, the tendency to overlook the all-too-human elements of medical care. While using metaphors or slang to describe potentially devastating illnesses is not inherently problematic, failing to see the tension between what seriously ill patients go through and how clinicians talk about and ‘manage’ sickness can be. As such, this chapter concludes by calling on educators to help their students see patient encounters as more than routine moments of one’s day and to bring these future clinicians back to a kind of care defined by compassion, vulnerability, and connection.
