Instead of being remnants of ‘pre-scientific’ discourse, the metaphors used in present-day translation theory still seem to fulfil an important role. Their cognitive power is nowadays realized by the interaction between the topic and various vehicles selected in disciplines such as psycholinguistics and translational acting. Through a process of semantic extension, metaphors are then made subject to readjustments which bear often a metaphorical dimension themselves. As a persuasive tool, metaphors serve the purpose of supporting new models, while at the same time they can edge out competing models via new representations of their concepts.