‘PLANES ARE BIRDS’ Metaphor
207words which are not understood by laypeople, the lexemes motivated by
the conceptual metaphor PLANES ARE BIRDS seem non-existent.
On the contrary, in the second group, i.e. among vocabulary items
used by professionals in less formal situations, words frequently not used
and not known to non-specialists, the evidence for metaphorically-
motivated lexemes is in abundance. First and foremost, according to E-P
SSL, in English aviation slang an airplane can be referred to by means of
the lexeme clay pigeon, whereas “an unidentified airplane” is dubbed bird
in the air. Furthermore, in aviation slang a cuckoo is used to refer to “a
dive bomber,” while a hawk circle is a collective reference to “airplanes
hovering near the airport waiting for the possibility to land.” Notably, the
lexeme hawk is used in aviation slang in the sense “an aircraft passenger.”
The lexeme L-bird is used with reference to “a light liaison or
reconnaissance aircraft.” Additionally, the E-P SSL informs us that the
lexeme bird in the sense “airplane” appears in compounds such as:
birdcage “early version of the aircraft F4U Corsair,” bird farm “aircraft
carrier,” birdman “a pilot,” birdsh*t “paratroopers during the landing
operation.” Moreover, names of different species of birds are found in
such compound lexemes as: crow hopping meaning “aircraft bouncing
during touchdown,” or round robin “landing followed directly by take-
off.” In addition, the background working of the conceptual metaphor
PLANES ARE BIRDS can be observed in such phrases as beak to beak
meaning “the minimum space between two flying airplanes,” or to lay
eggs “to drop mines or bombs from an aircraft.”
Further proof of the high productivity of the conceptual metaphor
PLANES ARE BIRDS in aviation slang is provided by a relatively
numerous group of nicknames given to planes, such as, for example, Big
Bird being a nickname for the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, Butcher
Bird – Focke Wulf Fw 190, Fan Bird – Boeing KC – 135R Stratotanker,
Herkybird – Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Little Bird – McDonnell Douglas
OH-6 Cayuse, Q-bird – Grumman EA-6B Prowler, Sparrow^6 – Piper PA-
28 Arrow, Speedbird – Aerospatiale BAC Concorde, T-Bird – Lockheed
T-33 Shooting Star, Tweety Bird – Cessna T-37, Whiney Bird –
McDonnell Douglas DC-8.
Regarding lexemes from the third subgroup of aviation vocabulary a
certain number of lexical items motivated, in one way or another, by the
conceptual metaphor PLANES ARE BIRDS can be enumerated. Lexemes
in the third group are used to communicate issues connected with aviation,
(^6) Alliteration is but another linguistic mechanism observable in the creation of this
aircraft name.