COVID-19 as a Metaphor: Understanding COVID-19 Through Social Media Users.

When the metaphors derived by the participants are examined through different categories, it can be seen that a variety of metaphors are produced and almost all of them attribute negative meanings to COVID-19. A significant part of the metaphors evoke disasters and unexpected events. The absence of more hopeful metaphors regarding the end of the pandemic, may stem from the fact that this study took place during the middle of the pandemic, when discussions of the "new normal" were being made just after the first wave.