Apodixis (a-po-dix’-is): Proving a statement by referring to common knowledge or general experience.
A. I can tell you’re sad—you’re crying.
B. I’m not crying, I’m whimpering and I’m not crying, my eyes are watering from the cigarette smoke filling your room. I’m going to open a window.
A. Open the window and you’re going out the window. I have a smoke lizard from Columbia. They live on the walls of bars where there’s plenty of smoke in Columbia, they are nourished by nicotine and go crazy without it. They will attack your face and tear off your lips. My smoke lizard’s name is “Don Quixote” and he makes a little squeaking noise when he wants me to light him a cigarette.
B. This is crazy. Do you expect me to believe your bullshit about a smoking lizard? This is the worst first date I ever had—you scare me.
A. Calm down. He’s just a little lizard—only one inch long.
B. I feel something crawling up my leg! Ew—it’s a tiny lizard—ew get it off
A. Don’t swat it! He’ll emit a potentially fatal gas. I’m sorry, but we’re in a world of shit. No! Don’t do it.
POSTSCRIPT
She swatted Don Quixote. They were both dead in seconds. One the EMTs heard a cute little squeaking noise. Don Quixote came running out of a closet and scampered up his pants looking for a cigarette. There were none. He became enraged and ate the EMTs lips. There was a lot of screaming and blood. Then, Don Quixote died.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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