Adage (ad’-age): One of several terms describing short, pithy sayings, or traditional expressions of conventional wisdom.
“Ye shall hammer swords into shareware.” Binary Bill Routerburger, Programming Peace in the Digital Age: One Hard Drive at a Time (2018).
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in Uncategorized
Adianoeta: An expression that, in addition to an obvious meaning, carries a second, subtle meaning (often at variance with the ostensible meaning).
We must ask: Why didn’t Trump attend former First Lady Bush’s funeral? It must’ve been his golfing. He is trying to improve it and any time spent away from the golf course leads to slippage.
Also, he may have wanted to avoid a lengthy conversation with former President Obama and his former First Lady.
Additionally, he probably wanted Melania there alone so she could ‘shine’ in her own right as the extremely amazing current First Lady she is.
All good reasons for hunkering down a Mar-a-lago: SO Presidential.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in adianoeta, Uncategorized
Tagged adianoeta, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Adnominatio (ad-no-mi-na’-ti-o): 1. A synonym for paronomasia [punning]. 2. A synonym for polyptoton. 3. Assigning to a proper name its literal or homophonic meaning.
1. The mathematician had Pi for dinner: he wasn’t hungry and wanted to work on a perplexing problem with a circle.
2. When he said “I can” I had no idea he was talking about preserving vegetables. So, there’s a difference between canning and coulding! If you could can, you can can (without dancing the can-can).
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in adnominatio, Uncategorized
Tagged adnominatio, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Adynaton (a-dyn’-a-ton): A declaration of impossibility, usually in terms of an exaggerated comparison. Sometimes, the expression of the impossibility of expression.
Making President Trump into an honest, ethical, caring person is like trying to teach symbolic logic to a cockroach: impossible.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in adynaton, Uncategorized
Tagged adynaton, definitions, examples, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Aetiologia (ae-ti-o-log’-i-a): A figure of reasoning by which one attributes a cause for a statement or claim made, often as a simple relative clause of explanation.
Let’s go out to dinner. I’m not hungry right now, but I want to ‘hit the town’ tonight. Also, you haven’t had a night off from cooking in a couple of weeks. We can go some place that’s good and cheap too. I know just the place–they’ve sold trillions of hamburgers and they’re right down the street. After dinner we can take a walk around the block. It’ll be just like a date! I can feel the romance building already!
Put on your shoes. We’re going out!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in aetiologia, Uncategorized
Tagged aetiologia, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Affirmatio (af’-fir-ma’-ti-o): A general figure of emphasis that describes when one states something as though it had been in dispute or in answer to a question, though it has not been.
Chemical agents used on civilians in Syria by the Syrian government. Those questioning this fact are not paying attention to reality–they would see us slip into the abyss of ignorance while the world goes to hell around us. We, on the other hand–we believers–are stalwart defenders of the USA and its intelligence apparatus which tells us, after conducting blood tests on victims, that chemical agents were used and caused many fatalities. And, as for who did it, clearly it was the Syrian government, as every eyewitness reports.
If you want to question this, perhaps you should join denier Putin and blame Israel–an idiotic charge made by an idiotic man.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in affirmatio, Uncategorized
Tagged affirmatio, definitions, examples, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Aganactesis (ag’-an-ak-tee’-sis): An exclamation proceeding from deep indignation.
Kelly: You fired another cabinet member! How are we supposed to maintain a level of professionalism with a revolving back door on the White House?
I’m beginning to think you do what you do simply because you want to do it. No thought given to consequences. No thought given to the welfare of the people of the United States–just you’re own self-absorbed pettiness and complete lack of foresight.
In short Mr. President, you’re ruining the United States. You’re a disaster worse than Mount St. Helens, Deepwater Horizon, and Hurricane Katrina combined.
You should do the right thing.
Trump: You’re fired. I can’t tolerate crybabies, and you are the biggest crybaby in the White House. You’re a whiner like all the other Generals and Admirals you hang out with. Pack your garbage and get out of my White House.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in aganactesis, Uncategorized
Tagged aganactesis, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Allegory (al’-le-go-ry): A sustained metaphor continued through whole sentences or even through a whole discourse.
There once was a large man with a clownish blond hairdo. His hair was pasted to the sides of his head and the middle part swirled like a Dairy Queen; more like a yellow scoop of mashed potatoes resting on his head than actual hair.
This man was Emperor and nobody imitated his hair. Well, when they did imitate it, the hair was more like a parody: exaggerated like a Matterhorn with wings resting on his head, ready to fly away from Switzerland to France.
In fact, none of the Emperor’s cherished quirks were imitated anywhere throughout the kingdom. When he was crowned, Diet Coke’s stock plunged, seemingly because it was his favorite beverage and people refused to drink it any more. When it was disclosed that he loved red meat, three-quarters of the Kingdom became vegetarian. When it was discovered that he has a fondness for prostitutes, pimps were left to fend for themselves as the Kingdom’s men gave up whoring.
The Emperor was befuddled, thinking that he was worthy of imitation on all fronts because he was the Emperor. But he was wrong. ‘The shoe didn’t fit so the people didn’t wear it‘: no matter how much power you have, barring death threats, arrest, torture, imprisonment, and execution the ‘people’ will make the right choices.
No Dairy Queen hair. No Diet Coke. No red meat. No prostitutes. No problem.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in allegory, Uncategorized
Tagged allegory, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes tropes
Alleotheta (al-le-o-the’-ta): Substitution of one case, gender, mood, number, tense, or person for another. Synonymous with enallage. [Some rhetoricians claim that alleotheta is a] general category that includes antiptosis [(a type of enallage in which one grammatical case is substituted for another)] and all forms of enallage [(the substitution of grammatically different but semantically equivalent constructions)].
You was the craziest person I ever knew. Where there was lots of herd, you dove right in. You was a rustler’s rustler. You taken everything in sight worth taking–as long as it mooed and look at you with those solemn brown eyes. You would make them cows a pets–all of them–if we didn’t have to make a living the hard way.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in alleotheta, Uncategorized
Tagged alleotheta, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Alliteration (al-lit’-er-a’-tion): Repetition of the same letter or sound within nearby words. Most often, repeated initial consonants. Taken to an extreme alliteration becomes the stylistic vice of paroemion where nearly every word in a sentence begins with the same consonant.
There has to be at least two sides to that broken bicycle’s end. You see, if you look at it from the front, it has a small dent in the front forks. If you look at it from the rear, it’s brake has been unbolted and is ready to fall to the ground. If you look at the front and the rear, there’s a problem that we shouldn’t even be talking about! Let’s just say, the bicycle belongs to the end of the day–we’ll have the junkman come a get it in the morning.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in alliteration, Uncategorized
Tagged alliteration, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Allusion (ə-ˈlü-zhən):[1] A reference/representation of/to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art . . . “a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage”. It is left to the reader or hearer to make the connection . . . ; an overt allusion is a misnomer for what is simply a reference.[2]
Who is going to tell Trump to “tear down that wall”? Well, the wall isn’t built yet and maybe it never will be built. In that case, “the world will be a better place for you and me, you just wait and see!” But, I’ll still “be on the pavement thinking about the government.” Why? I’ve “walked forty-seven miles of barbed wire” to get to this place, and I’m not going to let “some stupid with a flare gun” burn my dreams to the ground!
1. Phonetic transcription courtesy of Miriam-Webster’s On-Line Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allusion <3/6/08>.
2. Definition courtesy of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allusion <3/6/08>.
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in allusion, Uncategorized
Tagged allusion, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Amphibologia (am’-fi-bo-lo’-gi-a): Ambiguity of grammatical structure, often occasioned by mispunctuation. [A vice of ambiguity.]
I met my wife in the kitchen in her apron. I shouldn’t have put it on, but I wanted to know how it looked and how it felt to wear one. She was delighted and wanted to know when she was going to have a crack at my wingtips.
I think we’re going to learn a lot about each other by trading clothing. Since she’s going for my wingtips, I’m going to go for her high-heels. She has a pair of black suede spikes that I’ve had my eye on for nearly a year.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in amphibolgia, Uncategorized
Tagged amphibologia, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Ampliatio (am’-pli-a’-ti-o): Using the name of something or someone before it has obtained that name or after the reason for that name has ceased. A form of epitheton.
(1) Hi Mom!
Two more months and there will be a baby crying somewhere in your house! I’m sure he or she won’t cry for long. You’re going to make a wonderful mother!
(2) Hi-dee ho! Junky Joe!
I know you’ve been off drugs for 30 years, but I just can’t forget seeing you passed out anywhere you could get a needle into your arm–back rooms, front rooms, alleyways, dumpsters, parks, public restrooms, parking lots. It was disgusting. I’m so sorry I have such a hard time erasing those images from my mind and seeing you for who you’ve become; working in the White House and helping to make America great again. I should be congratulating you instead of mocking you. Even though you’ve never served in the military, I think you’ll make a great Secretary of the Navy! Good luck!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in ampliatio, Uncategorized
Tagged ampliatio, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Anacoenosis (an’-a-ko-en-os’-is): Asking the opinion or judgment of the judges or audience, usually implying their common interest with the speaker in the matter [and illustrating their communally-held ideals of truth, justice, goodness and beauty, for better and for worse].
How certain are we of the future? Not at all? Yet, we vest our most human sensibilities in the future: from hope to fear, from gratitude to revenge, from faith to fraud. We are damned to think about, and talk about and act in preparation for an as-of-now nonexistent future.
Do we want justice? Do we share an abiding regard for, and love of, the law? Yes. The law guides our collective walk toward the future. But we know the law is made up of myriad laws. And we know that some laws, because crafted by people–imperfect beings–are fraught with flaws. The flaws come to light in the glare of change, often when fears become hopes and nightmares become dreams.
The mutability of the grounds of human existence require the law’s revision, but revision undertaken from the view of the mountaintop of abstraction with legislators seated upon seats of justice seeking what they hope is good for the “the people” and their Republic.
We are servants. We bind our souls to the Constitution as a dunamis awaiting our deliberations. May we seek truth and find justice.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in anacoenosis, Uncategorized
Tagged anacoenosis, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Anacoloutha (an-a-co’-lu-tha): Substituting one word with another whose meaning is very close to the original, but in a non-reciprocal fashion; that is, one could not use the first, original word as a substitute for the second. This is the opposite of acoloutha.
The fire licked the sky as if the sky was a sweet dream soaking the star-strewn banner of night. The red and orange and yellow terror began sweeping the surrounding scene with destruction. We heard approaching sirens. We hoped our volunteers were up to the task of subduing the raging flames.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in anacoloutha, Uncategorized
Tagged anacolutha, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
Anacoluthon (an-a-co-lu’-thon): A grammatical interruption or lack of implied sequence within a sentence. That is, beginning a sentence in a way that implies a certain logical resolution, but concluding it differently than the grammar leads one to expect. Anacoluthon can be either a grammatical fault or a stylistic virtue, depending on its use. In either case, it is an interruption or a verbal lack of symmetry. Anacoluthon is characteristic of spoken language or interior thought, and thus suggests those domains when it occurs in writing.
Sometimes impatience is a virtue, but your shoes are scuffed, and worn down and in a state of disrepair. If you need more context to understand what I’m talking about, there might be time find it, but it’s not the on way to San Jose. Just walk in the right direction and your conscience will be cleared, or leave tracks that somebody else can follow. At any rate, calm down.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
Posted in anacoluthon, Uncategorized
Tagged anacoluthon, definitions, examples, figures of speech, rhetoric, schemes, tropes
The Daily Trope 