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Languages around the world use a recurring strategy to discuss abstract concepts: describe them metaphorically, borrowing language from more concrete domains. We "plan ahead" to the future, "count up" to higher numbers, and "warm" to new friends. Past work has found that these ways of talking have implications for how we think, so that shared systems of linguistic metaphors can produce shared conceptualizations. On the other hand, these systematic linguistic metaphors might not just be the cause but also the effect of shared, non-linguistic ways of thinking. Here, we present a case study of a variety of American English in which a shared, non-linguistic conceptualization of time has become crystallized as a new system of linguistic metaphors. Speakers of various languages, including English, conceptualize time as a lateral timeline, with the past leftward and the future rightward. Until now, this conceptualization has not been documented in the speech of any language. In two studies, we document how members of the U.S. military, but not U.S. civilians, talk about time using conventionalized lateral metaphors (e.g., "move the meeting right" to mean "move the meeting later"). We argue that, under the right cultural circumstances, implicit mental representations become conventionalized metaphors in language.

Sudden personal ruptures figure prominently in literature, religious scripture, and "great man" historical narratives. Scientists experience sudden insights. Religious devotees abandon their faiths—or find new ones. Political organizers switch parties. Are these restricted to the lives of a few exceptional individuals—or are they widespread, commonplace, a recurring feature of human experience? To address these questions, we conducted a survey of people's experiences of sudden transformation across a range of life domains: morality, aesthetics, mathematical or scientific belief, religion, politics, social life, and mental health. Sudden personal transformations were surprisingly widespread. The magnitude of a rupture was associated with changes in social networks, and with changes in belief dissonance. In other words, new friends or challenging beliefs could precipitate large personal transformations. Critical transitions in the human experience may reflect universal dynamical mechanisms.