Monthly Archives: February 2021

Asyndeton

Posted on February 28, 2021 | Comments Off on Asyndeton

Asyndeton (a-syn’-de-ton): The omission of conjunctions between clauses, often resulting in a hurried rhythm or vehement effect. [Compare brachylogia. Opposite of polysyndeton.]

Hope, faith, charity: the tines of a dull rake tearing at my heart with their scathing absence. I am unable, unwilling, uninvited: unhopeful, unfaithful, uncharitable. I fear. I scoff. I take. There is no forgiveness from anybody anywhere that assuages blunders, bad choices, wrong turns. Only time and forgetting clear the way. But still, we are doomed by our moral compass to navigate toward the abyss. The darkness. The infinite. The void. The end.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

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Auxesis

Posted on February 27, 2021 | Comments Off on Auxesis

Auxesis (ok-see’-sis): (1) Arranging words or clauses in a sequence of increasing force. In this sense, auxesis is comparable to climax and has sometimes been called incrementum. (2) A figure of speech in which something is referred to in terms disproportionately large (a kind of exaggeration or hyperbole). (3) Amplification in general.

(1) We are born. We crawl. We walk. We run. We never get there. Life is like a dull knife—more likely to fatally cut you than a well-sharpened piece of steel, as you push its chipped edge forward and try to carve out your desired future, it slips out of time and guts you.

(2) My credit card is like a license plate affixed to a red limo going 125 MPH toward the gates of Heaven. It vibrates with luxury, fine dining, and gold. It is my partner, my joy, my dream come true, until the end of the month when I cut it up and steal a new one.

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

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Bdelygmia

Posted on February 26, 2021 | Comments Off on Bdelygmia

Bdelygmia (del-ig’-mi-a): Expressing hatred and abhorrence of a person, word, or deed.

Utilize. Where the hell did utilize come from? Why not just say “use?” The people who use utilize instead of use, use a Latinized version of a simple word: “ize” gives the little word bigness, importance, status. At least that’s what the word’s users think. Idiots. Twits. Losers. When I hear it, I hate it, the hatred rubs off on the users of utilize.

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

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Bomphiologia

Posted on February 25, 2021 | Comments Off on Bomphiologia

Bomphiologia (bom-phi-o-lo’-gi-a): Exaggeration done in a self-aggrandizing manner, as a braggart.

When the election was stolen from me, I was a little upset. My followers were so upset, out of love for me and my amazing leadership talent, they decided to stage a coup (all on their own). Given their undying affection, they moved. They beat police with flagpoles and a couple fire extinguishers and concealed clubs: all they did was look at me, downtrodden and jacked around, and their anger spontaneously flowed.

They love me, worship me, and have faith in me like their savior. I am their savior. Maybe they’ll riot. Maybe they’ll kill Biden. It won’t be my fault. I am beautiful and they love me.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae”

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Brachylogia

Posted on February 24, 2021 | Comments Off on Brachylogia

Brachylogia (brach-y-lo’-gi-a): The absence of conjunctions between single words. Compare asyndeton. The effect of brachylogia is a broken, hurried delivery.

Tired. Hungry. Crazy. I peek out the broken window—the window broken by a single shot fired from across the street. It has finally happened—goddamn—another bullet whizzes through the window, killing the cat and lodging in the floor. My daughter cries uncontrollably. My wife stands up and moves toward the window yelling, “Who the fuck are you? What the fuck are you doing? What do you want?” She’s answered by a clean shot to the forehead, killing her instantly. My daughter and I will be dying soon and we know it. Regretful. Terrified. Resigned. We look out the window and silently wait.

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

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Cacozelia

Posted on February 21, 2021 | Comments Off on Cacozelia

Cacozelia (ka-ko-zeel’-i-a): 1. A stylistic affectation of diction, such as throwing in foreign words to appear learned. 2. Bad taste in words or selection of metaphor, either to make the facts appear worse or to disgust the auditors.

I felt the parameters of my television crumble when my streaming box went slo-mo into a pantheon of stretched words and images. It was like floating on a sea of hardening cement with a stingray protruding from my crusted trousers. My soul filibustered my body’s ganglia. My eyes started watering and I snapped back only to find my goldfish Karma 27 crushed on the floor, eyeballs protruding like black and grey glass balls

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

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Catachresis

Posted on February 20, 2021 | Comments Off on Catachresis

Catachresis (kat-a-kree’-sis): The use of a word in a context that differs from its proper application. This figure is generally considered a vice; however, Quintilian defends its use as a way by which one adapts existing terms to applications where a proper term does not exist.

My heart is ruptured with happiness!

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

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Catacosmesis

Posted on February 17, 2021 | Leave a comment

Catacosmesis (kat-a-kos-mees’-is): Ordering words from greatest to least in dignity, or in correct order of time.

There was a president. There was a con artist. There were one million lies. There was a filthy pig. All the same person–the poor character, the bad genes, the twisted upbringing–all the same: evil. Evil in the morning. Evil in the afternoon. Evil all night long.

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

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