Managing a Pandemic through Words
Managing a Pandemic through Words

Summary/Abstract: The COVID-19 is an ongoing pandemic. Since its inception in 2019, the virus has spread to each and every continent except Antarctica. This crisis has radically change dour lifestyle and behaviour. We now live in surreal times. For almost three years now wehave been waiting, hoping and praying for the COVID-19 pandemic to end. This study looks at how public communication about COVID-19 was managed by two key political figures: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Klaus Iohannis at the beginning of the pandemic (considered the crisis period: March 2020 – September 2020). There were different types of metaphors used by the two political leaders but our analysis revolved around two main figures of speech: personification (of the virus) and metaphor (the FIRE metaphor, the Journey metaphor and the MOVING WATER metaphor). The data gathered was analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The focal point of the quantitative research was on how many metaphors and how many personifications of the virus could be found in the two political figures’ discourses. This deductive method helped us prove that the two discourses are similar up to a point. The qualitative research, concerned with structures and patterns, helped us bring to light similarities and dissimilarities between the two discourses. Metaphors simplify the information and emphasize aspects which are important for a better understanding of the problem. They can influence the way people see and understand different types of experiences and they can trigger different types of responses to the same reality.The aim of our research is to answer a few questions: 1. What are the similarities and differences between these two political leaders’ discourses? 2. What was the aim of using personification and metaphor by the two political figures?Our conclusion was that the two leaders made use of specific metaphors in order to communicate more effectively the seriousness of the crisis people were confronted with.

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