Research on the definition and decoding of metaphors is reviewed in a discussion of metaphor as stereotype, exemplified by the statement of an Austrian politician regarding potential massive immigration that "the boat is full." Immediate continuations of this metaphor for Austria included remarks about "inundating" the country and a "stream" of foreigners. Stereotypes, always verbal, trigger emotions, value judgments, and behavior via socialization rather than personal experience. The widespread political use of stereotypic metaphors of this type has the goal of gaining power at the expense of outsiders; clarification of public confusion between value-free concepts and stereotypes is advocated. (Copyright 1992, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (J. Hitchcock in LLBA 1992, vol. 26, n. 2)