An introductory overview of various sets of White Hmong metaphors is cast from two perspectives. (1) In a semantic field approach, metaphors are described for body parts; adjective pairs denoting heat vs cold & contrasting color & light vs dark concepts; the motion verb poob 'to fall'; extensions of tuag 'to die'; & elements of nature. (2) Among metaphors the White Hmong live by, in the sense of George Lakoff & Mark Johnson (1980), are the unifying metaphorical theme "life is a string" & associations of human qualities with appearance, eg, goodness with beauty, badness with ugliness, honesty with bodily straightness, & dishonesty with crookedness of body parts. 21 References. J. Hitchcock