Graecismus (gree-kis’-mus): Using Greek words, examples, or grammatical structures. Sometimes considered an affectation of erudition.
In the present krisis I see the gleaming Acropolis, shining as the polis burns and Zeus dances wildly waving a roll of χαρτί υγείας (toilet paper) like Mr. Tambourine Man with “one hand waving free” his shadow cast across the sickly masses: They cry “Where is Odysseus? Will he ever come home to rid us of this menacing peril?” I think to myself, “This is an enthymeme from hell–a sorites without end. What’s the hidden premise? What does it all add up to? WTF?”
Suddenly I woke up on the filthy floor of my apartment. I saw fire-like shadows flickering on my bedroom wall. I looked out my window to the street below. It was deserted. The light flickering on my wall was neon flashing in the barber shop window across the street: closed, closed, closed. “What a bunch of skatá,” I said to my roommate who had been dead for two days, killed by the coronavirus.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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