Homoioptoton (ho-mee-op-to’-ton): The repetition of similar case endings in adjacent words or in words in parallel position.
Note: Since this figure only works with inflected languages, it has often been conflated with homoioteleuton and (at least in English) has sometimes become equivalent to simple rhyme: “To no avail, I ate a snail.”
I had applied for the job 3 months ago. I wanted to be a cod chucker at the local fish market. I had been a pitcher on my high school’s regional championship baseball team. I was 59-5 for my career. I figured I could unerringly pitch dead cod to customers and hit the mark every time. I could even throw knuckle- and curve-fish. It would be fun and I was sure to get a reputation and become famous in South Bristol.
My family had settled in South Bristol in 1698, fought in the Revolutionary War and built boats there since the late 1700s. We were planted and rooted, and buried all over the local cemetery.
The next day I got a text message from “Tuna Tails.” They wanted to interview me for the chucker job. Since I would be working closely with 4 other chuckers, they thought it was best that I take a test to see if I was the right kind of person to chuck “in harmony.” I was to show up the next morning at 6.00 a.m. Chuckers started early.
When I got there, there were 8 other people there to take the test. We went in a room one at a time and took the test orally from Mrs. Tail, the wife of the owner of the fish market. It was a personality test called “Briggs and Patton.” It sounded a lot like “Briggs and Stratton” the small-engine manufacturers that power everybody’s lawn mowers. The questions were unusual. For example:
1. The chucker next to you squeezes your ass. What do you do?
2. You chuck a cod and the chucker next you distracts you by tickling you under your arm. What do you do?
3.The chucker next to you grabs your cod and chucks it. What do you do?
4. The chucker next to you hits you in the back of the head with a cod. What do you do?
There were 200 questions like this. It took about an hour-and-a-half to complete the test. I did not get the job because I gave the same answer to all 200 questions: “Tell the boss.” They said I sounded like a whiny squealer and didn’t want their employees to come running to them every time a fellow employee bothered them.
After that, my dad bought the fish market and got rid of the Tails. Now they have a car wash with a lame name. It’s called “Spray Day.” We renamed the fish market “Sea Hunt” in memory of Lloyd Bridges.
Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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