This is a study of German compound nouns, used metaphorically to refer to three life style manifestations characteristic of postmodern society: consumption, health and fitness orientation, and the pursuit of pleasure. The lexical items are classified according to the source domains of the respective metaphors, thus demonstrating the variety of perspectives that come into play and providing an insight into the ways people think as well as their attitudes and values with respect to the phenomena focussed on in the study. Common to all lexemes is an element of excess, which suggests that the phenomena in question are regarded as violations of societal norms.