Daily Archives: January 31, 2008

Metalepsis

Metalepsis (me-ta-lep’-sis): Reference to something by means of another thing that is remotely related to it, either through a farfetched causal relationship, or through an implied intermediate substitution of terms. Often used for comic effect through its preposterous exaggeration. A metonymical substitution of one word for another which is itself figurative.

You’re such a shoe head–Birkenstock, Gucci, Puma, Nike, Bass, Timberland, Crocs, Nine West, Marc Jacobs, ECCO, Zanotti, Clergerie, Vacini. Yikes! Your closet looks like Zappos’s website!

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Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).