Some findings arising from the compilation of the volume 'Le Corps dans la langue: un dictionnaire prototype' (The Body in Language: A Prototype Dictionary) are discussed from the perspective of the figurative. The question of whether the act (in this case eating {'manger'}) as both a source and object of figures, involves the same types of figures in both instances, and in the same proportions is addressed. A variety of figurative expressions built on 'manger' is examined. It is found that the act of eating denominates something else twice as often as it is itself denominated by a figure. As a source of figures, it gives rise largely to metaphors. (Copyright 1993, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (B. Annesser Murray in LLBA 1993, vol. 27, n. 3)