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)].
Eddy: That bowling ball is you! The little sparkly things remind me of the flakes in your hair. The three holes remind me of your eyes and mouth. I’m just kidding. The ball has style just like you. It’ll do our team proud like my turquoise ball with the yellow stripe—rolling thunder. It scares the hell out of our opponents. They roll gutter balls like that’s what they were born to do. Put that ball you’re thinking of buying into the mix and we’ll be world class. We’ll make it to “The Bowling Show.” We’ll be famous. Our team “All Strikes” will be asked to endorse bowling products for a fee. Shoe powder. Gripper gloves. Ball wash. Hand towel. Stretch pants. Rocket socks. We’ll be rich—all because of your hot-looking new bowling ball.
Bea: You’re a nutcase Eddy. We’ve never won anything. I thought we rolled because we love it. I love landing that ball smoothly on the lane, aiming for a strike, watching it go down the middle, raising my foot in the air and wiping my hand on my thigh, with the other hand pointed up in the air. I’m a bowling statue, a monument to the game. Maybe I could be Bowletta, the mythical bowling goddess.
She saved her village. The village was on a hill with a roadway running down the side. The Huns were holding the village under siege. The village had run out of arrows and the Huns were slowly advancing up the hill. If they reached the top unscathed, the little village would be sacked and everybody would die a bloody death. Bowletta picked up a rock. She held it above her head and loudly petitioned Zeus to do something to save the village. The rock turned into a perfect sphere and began to grow. Bowletta placed it on the ground as it grew and grew. Soon it was as big as the boulders outside of town. Suddenly the boulders started rolling on the road outside of town. The halted behind the giant ball, which made a rumbling sound and headed down the road with all the boulders following. They crushed the Huns—flattening them like pizzas, killing them all and saving the village. Then, the giant ball shrunk and became a rock—a sphere the size of a bowling ball. The mowed-down Huns gave Bowletta an idea. The village could honor Zeus by knocking down Hun effigies with rolling balls at a festival every year.
Bowling was born.
Eddy: Where did you get that story from? It is so implausible. It’s more far-fetched than Puss n’ Boots!
Bea: Shut up Eddy. It does not matter if it’s true—it’s inspirational. I’ve been to the little village where bowling was born. They don’t believe the story either. That’s their loss. I rolled my ball down village’s hill just for the heck of it. It disappeared and I couldn’t find it. That’s why I need a new ball.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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