Graecismus (gree-kis’-mus): Using Greek words, examples, or grammatical structures. Sometimes considered an affectation of erudition.
Homer was blind. He was a famous Greek poet. He is a great tribute to the saying “It’s all in your head.” His famous “oínopa pónton” (wine dark sea) is a case in point. I guess he was a little off. The Mediterranean Sea is actually deep blue and clear. Why wasn’t Homer corrected? One must assume he had a lot of friends, and also, they didn’t clue the poor blind man in to his error. Maybe,
But there are accounts of Homer’s “sκακή διάθεση” (bad temper). When he wrote that Odysseus would “shoot an arrow through 12 axe handles,” one of Homer’s friends, Ludicrous, pointed out that it was γελοίος (ridiculous). Homer stood up and yelled “Lead me to the traitor.” Ludicrous knew what was going to happen. He ran out the door and headed to the docks, where he bought a ticket in steerage to Crete, where he would aspire to be a liar like the rest of the Cretans.
As time went by, Homer’s contemporaries “The Cyclic Poets” found a way to remedy Homer’s “all in your head” errors, like “wine dark sea.” They came up with the idea of figurative language— language that does not “literally” mean what it says—i.e. metaphors. This liguistic discovery was a boon to poets who could claim their errors were τρόπος του λέγειν (figures of speech). This license was given solely to poets because it did not matter what they said or why they said it. For example, William Carlos Williams’ wet wheelbarrow, or Sylvia Plath’s ramblings about her “Daddy.”
In the 20th century the barrier between literal and figurative language broke down. “Everyday people” started “living by” metaphors. this movement of thought was initiated by two mischievous trolls from the netherworld of anthropology, encroaching on the field of creative writing, creating havoc, and starting to make creative writing into an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp. Perhaps this trend will be an ameliorated by a rebalancing of the literal and the figurative, giving them an equal shot at your attention and belief. One would hope so.
But there are new developments. This discourse has been generated by AI. It’s like riding in a car without a driver. Your destination is a brief essay. You say a few words, and off you go.
Artificial intelligence is better than no intelligence at all.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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