ZOOMETAPHORS IN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH LINGUISTIC CULTURES
In the article the author sets himself investigating of a zoo metaphor as a way of a linguistic characteristic of a person on the basis of various images and as a fragment of the national linguistic picture of the world. Being based on the analysis of dictionary definitions of some fauna objects in investigated languages, the author notices that, the further decrease in quantity of signs transferred by objects occurs expansion of sphere of compatibility of a metaphor from concrete object to a category. Analyzing metaphorical carryings over of images of animals on a person and objects of the lifeless nature, the author reveals specificity of the considered metaphors in Russian and English linguistic cultures. In considered languages some expressions illustrate human living conditions, their professional habits and some more aspects inherent in native speakers of Russian and English. They reveal similarities, and more often distinctions in Russian and English linguistic cultures.