It has become clear that metaphor needs to be explored in terms of the social and discourse context in which it is used, especially where the aim is to address real-world problems. This book starts by describing the nature and scope of real world metaphor research and illustrates the different areas it can apply to.

1. Editors' introduction (by Low, Graham); 2. 1. The wonderful, chaotic, creative, heroic, challenging world of Researching and Applying Metaphor: A celebration of the past and some peeks into the future (by Gibbs, Jr., Raymond W.); 3. 1. Metaphor and language learning; 4. 2. Can people be cold and warm?: Developing understanding of figurative meanings of temperature terms in early EFL (by Piquer-Piriz, Ana Maria); 5. 3. Grasping the point: A study of 15-year-old students' comprehension of metaphorical expressions in schoolbooks (by Golden, Anne); 6. 4. "Drugs, traffic, and many other dirty interests": Metaphor and the language learner (by Philip, Gill); 7. 5. The gaps to be filled: The (mis)treatment of the polysemous senses of hand, cool and run in EFL text books (by Chavez, Elisabet Amaya); 8. 6. A cross-cultural study of metaphoric understanding (by Wang, Chongying); 9. 2. Capturing and analysing metaphors; 10. 7. Love, metaphor and responsibility: Some examples from Early Modern and Present-Day English corpora (by Tissari, Heli); 11. 8. A critical look at the desktop metaphor 30 years on (by Terkourafi, Marina); 12. 9. Pragglejaz in practice: Finding metaphorically used words in natural discourse (by Steen, Gerard J.); 13. 10. Mapping principles for conceptual metaphors (by Ahrens, Kathleen); 14. 11. Systematicity in metaphor and the use of invariant mappings (by Wallington, Alan M.); 15. 12. Attitude, style and context: Matching cognitive and aesthetic accounts of poetic interpretation (by Brouwer, Elsbeth C.); 16. 13. A genre approach to imagery in winespeak: Issues and prospects (by Caballero, Rosario); 17. 3. The function of metaphor in discourse; 18. 14. Wot no similes?: The curious absence of simile in university lectures (by Low, Graham); 19. 15. Metaphor marking and metaphor typological and functional ranges in business periodicals (by Skorczynska Sznajder, Hanna); 20. 16. Critical analysis of creative metaphors in political speeches (by Muller, Ralph); 21. 17. Metaphor in physical-and-speech action expressions (by Cameron, Lynne); 22. 18. The evaluative properties of metaphors (by Deignan, Alice); 23. Index of names; 24. Index of terms