Heterogenium (he’-ter-o-gen-i-um): Avoiding an issue by changing the subject to something different. Sometimes considered a vice.
Friend: Well Mark, it looks like Facebook took an about face for the US government and turned its back on my privacy!
Mark: Well, there’s privacy and then there’s privacy, and, on that note I’d like to make something public right here and right now! Priscilla lost five pounds on the Facebook weight-loss program!
Friend: Weight-loss program?
Mark: Yes, that’s right! It’s an exciting new Facebook feature that is rolling out next week. We’re calling it “Friend your way to a new figure!”
Friend: Wow! I can hardly wait to tell my all my friends!
- Post your own heterogenium on the “Comments” page!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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