Mesodiplosis (mes-o-dip-lo’-sis): Repetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences.
I have been big and tall all my life. I was big and tall when I was six. Obviously, I’m big and and tall now—6’ 8” and 347 pounds. I’ve been shopping at the big and tall clothing store since I was fifteen. The proprietor, Mr. Crease, gave me a goldfish the first time I went for “shutting up and standing still.”
I named the fish “Taylor” and kept him in a bowl in my room. One night I heard a little voice say “Wake up numb nuts.” I suffered from insomnia, so I was already awake. Now, I was wide awake—Taylor could talk! In bits and pieces, he told me came from a goldfish farm in Muncie, Indiana. The farm sold goldfish in bulk to pet stores. Mr. Crease had purchased him at “Get-A-Pet” down the street from his big and tall clothing store. Taylor couldn’t stay out of water long. Before he dove down under the water, he said, “See this guy. He can help me: Micro Jim, 315-229-4818.” I called Micro the next day and asked him how he could help my goldfish. He said, “Oh, you must have a ‘Golden Talker.’ Very rare. I can help you out.” He told me his address and took the bus there.
I rang his doorbell around 25 times until he finally answered. He said he was working on a top secret project and became distracted. Then he held up some kind of device a little bigger than a peppercorn. “This is an underwater micro Bluetooth microphone that will transmit voice signals to your iPhone. You charge it by laying it in direct sunlight. Now, your goldfish won’t have to surface to talk to you. Golden Talkers like to tell stories, so get ready to be entertained.” He gave me instructions on how to operate the micro-microphone.
I got home and Taylor swam to the surface to greet me. I put the microphone over his mouth and turned on my phone’s Bluetooth. They instantly paired.
Taylor said, “I’m going to tell you a story.”
“Once there was a big and tall brown bear named Brutus who roamed free on a 600 acre estate owned by Lord Gilligan who was big but not tall. He was 5’ 7” and weighed 23 stone. He had Trifle for breakfast and lunch 7 days a week. He was so fat he had personal he also had Court Hoisters who would pull him out of bed and chairs. He also had a Paige that pulled him around in a gilded wagon,”
“Brutus was in really good shape and was dismayed by Lord Giligan’s horrible condition. Brutus decided to break into the manor house one morning, and growling viciously, knocked over Lord Giligan’s trifles, spilling them all over the floor. As a consequence of his behavior, Brutus became a fugitive and was hunted by Lord Giligan’s gamekeeper for the £200 bounty put on his head.”
“Still, Brutus did not regret what he had done. His attack had instilled fear in Lord Gilligan and he no longer ate trifle twice a day. He rapidly lost weight and his wife Lady Sizzlecrepe was attracted to him once again. The Lord called off the hunt for Brutus out of gratitude for providing him an incentive to abstain from trifle. The newly svelte Lord was able to get out of chairs and his bed on his own. And he could walk around the manor again. Trifle was outlawed and Brutus was made a Knight—as Sir Brutus, he lived a long and noble life with a string of weight loss spas throughout the kingdom.”
Taylor said “Good night” and I went be and fell asleep immediately. My insomnia was cured!
Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
The Daily Trope is available on Amazon in paperback under the title of The Book of Tropes for $9.95. It is also available in Kindle format for $5.99.
The Daily Trope 