Syntheton (sin’-the-ton): When by convention two words are joined by a conjunction for emphasis.
Eggs and bacon
United on a plate.
White and yellow embryos and strips of pinkish flesh.
Break the yolk and bathe the pork in what could have been a bird.
“Isn’t breakfast lovely?”
“Isn’t this weather is absurd?”
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Posted in syntheton
Tagged current-events, eggs and bacon, elocutio, example, figures of speech, rhetoric, syntheton, The Daily Trope, trope
Systrophe (si’-stro-fee): The listing of many qualities or descriptions of someone or something, without providing an explicit definition.
Slumped in the sticky slurry. Sick on the pavement–bluish red. Like a carcinoma. Like a cracked piston. Like a nosebleed that’s already bled.
Sobbing like a pig with wide eyes begging for slaughter in the dawn’s early light.
Oh, say can you see?
The loaded handgun is still here: cold gleaming proof that the end is always near.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Posted in systrophe
Tagged current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, rhetoric, Star Spangled Nightmare, systrophe, The Daily Trope, trope
Tapinosis (ta-pi-no’-sis): Giving a name to something which diminishes it in importance.
So, when is the Volkscheater diesel emissions scandal going to settle? When the fat lady chokes?
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Posted in tapinosis
Tagged current-events, elocutio, emissions scandal, example, figures of speech, rhetoric, tapinosis, trope, Volkscheater, Volkswagon
Tasis (ta’-sis): Sustaining the pronunciation of a word or phrase because of its pleasant sound. A figure apparent in delivery.
Ohhhhhh babeeeee—your lips look like a bright red bow and we knowww what’s gonna happen next!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Posted in tasis
Tagged current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, kiss, ohhhh babeeee, rhetoric, tasis, The Daily Trope, trope, we knowwww
Thaumasmus (thau-mas’-mus): To marvel at something rather than to state it in a matter of fact way.
One Refugee’s Story*
I finally got to Berlin after days of walking and taking buses and trains from somewhere else.
I awoke behind a fence with hundreds of bald-headed men covered in tattoos outside the fence, their right arms outstretched, chanting a German greeting.
I waved back and thanked them. As I turned around I exclaimed “I am in a refugee camp!”
There were 100s of shiny sweet-smelling Porta-Potties glistening like pearls strung on a royal strand.
“Oh!” I exclaimed.
Jars and jars and jars of Nutella cleverly arranged in the shape of my homeland!
100s of rolls of soft Swiss toilet tissue–a paper Matterhorn nearly touching the blue German sky, silhouetted by hills of freeze-dried spargles forming the backdrop for 100s of galvanized barrels overflowing with foaming beer, sweet apple cider, and peppermint schnapps.
Dazed, I said to myself “Anyway, I am tired of eating flattened squirrels by the roadside, and drinking from small shallow puddles.”
Now, I will never go back to where I came from.
Already, I have learned the German phrase for “I am in paradise.” One of the tattooed bald men taught it to me: Ich gehör da nicht zu.
So, whenever I feel joy and want to express my gratitude I smile broadly and yell: Ich gehör da nicht zu.
The tattooed bald men smile too and cheer me on.
Truly, I have found a new home!
Ich gehör da nicht zu!
Heil Kanzlor Merkel!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
*Translated by Prof. Hans Schtudentlickenheinerbachen, Hegel Professor of Other Languages, U. of Putzhaben.
Posted in thaumasmus
Tagged current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, refugee crisis, rhetoric, thaumasmus, The Daily Trope, trope
Tmesis (tmee’-sis): Interjecting a word or phrase between parts of a compound word or between syllables of a word.
Hilary Clinton on the grill again over Ben-freakin-ghazi. Thanks for another clown show House Republicans.
The Committee’s formula for Select Idiocy:
Seven Bozos + Five Reasonable People + Thirteen Months = -$3,500,000. Money well-spent; if you like disgusting displays of partisan politics, squandering enough US taxpayer dollars to put a small village through college, and last but not least, vomiting on your TV’s remote control.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Posted in tmesis
Tagged Benghazi, Bozo Republicans, Clinton, current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, rhetoric, The Daily Trope, tmesis
Topographia (top-o-graf’-i-a): Description of a place. A kind of enargia [: {en-ar’-gi-a} generic name for a group of figures aiming at vivid, lively description].
Dante did a pretty good job of describing hell.
But there is a hell he never imagined:
15-year-olds sitting in a classroom, eager to learn. Teacher teaching, asking questions, getting spirited well-framed answers. All is well.
Big windows. Brightly polished floors. Sun streams in on a warm Autumn day.
You know what happens next. They didn’t–they were growing, thriving angels filled with wonder and vexed by the awkwardness of being 15–just like we were when we were teens.
Over as fast as a trigger can be pulled: the banging, the flashing, the wounding, the dying.
15 year-olds in a classroom. Broken windows. Blood-stained floors. Sun streams in on a warm Autumn day.
Dreams disintegrate in the warm Autumn air.
Nothing is left but grief, anger, fear, and despair.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.
Posted in topographia
Tagged classroom shooting, current-events, elocutio, enargia, example, figures of speech, rhetoric, The Daily Trope, topographia, trope
Traductio (tra-duk’-ti-o): Repeating the same word variously throughout a sentence or thought. Some authorities restrict traductio further to mean repeating the same word but with a different meaning (see ploce, antanaclasis, and diaphora), or in a different form (polyptoton). If the repeated word occurs in parallel fashion at the beginnings of phrases or clauses, it becomes anaphora; at the endings of phrases or clauses, epistrophe.
Syrian “child brides” are no longer allowed into the Netherlands accompanying their refugee husbands. “Child brides” seems like an oxymoron, like the famous “jumbo shrimp” or “military intelligence.” Unfortunately, “child bride” is not a figure of speech. Take for example the pregnant 14-year-old who went missing from her 40-year-old husband at one of the Netherlands’ refugees camps. Definitely a child. Definitely a bride Definitely soon to be a mother.
Upon arrival in the Netherlands, adult husbands and their underage wives (aka child brides) should be divorced and the husbands required to pay alimony and child support for the rest of their lives.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Posted in traductio
Tagged antanaclasis, child bride, current-events, diaphora, elocutio, example, figures of speech, Netherlands, oxymoron, ploce, polyptoton, rhetoric, The Daily Trope, traductio, trope
Tricolon (tri-co-lon): Three parallel elements of the same length occurring together in a series.
I tasered him. I shot him. I killed him. Oh–I was exonerated by the grand jury–no indictment!
Clearly, to any sane person, I acted in self defense! After all, he punched me twice! The scrappy little 17-year-old boy could’ve killed me with his bare hands, or even taken my gun away from me and shot me because I was sitting on him.
Sadly and tragically and hopefully this child’s death will send a message to all the viciously aggressive, thoughtless, and reckless high beam flashers out there: If you don’t want to be dead on the pavement from seven gunshot wounds, remember,
That’s a promise.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Posted in tricolon
Tagged 17-year-old, current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, high beams, rhetoric, shot, The Daily Trope, tricolon, trope
Abating: English term for anesis: adding a concluding sentence that diminishes the effect of what has been said previously. The opposite of epitasis (the addition of a concluding sentence that merely emphasizes what has already been stated. A kind of amplification).
There’s a new rapprochement between the ROK and the DPRK! People can visit their relatives! Land-mines have been decommissioned in the DMZ! Loudspeakers silenced!
Is that all your two countries can do after 60 years of total bullshit?
What’s next, a shared franchise for a Burger King in the DMZ?
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Posted in abating
Tagged abating, Burger King, current-events, DMZ, DPRK, elocutio, epitasis, example, figures of speech, rapprochement, rhetoric, ROK, The Daily Trope, trope
Abbaser [George] Puttenham’s English term for tapinosis. Also equivalent to meiosis: reference to something with a name disproportionately lesser than its nature (a kind of litotes: deliberate understatement, especially when expressing a thought by denying its opposite).
His hand blown off by the bomb blast, according to the news reporter in Ankara, my friend was “injured.” He isn’t injured, he is maimed for life.
Oh yeah news idiot, he was “injured” by the bomb blast, just like the woman who was standing next to him. Blown to bits, let’s call her terminally wounded.
Post your own abbaser on the “Comments” page!
Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.
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Posted in abbaser
Tagged Ankara, bombing, current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, litotes, meiosis, rhetoric, tapinosis, terminally wounded, The Daily Trope, trope
Accismus (ak-iz’-mus): A feigned refusal of that which is earnestly desired.
What? One-dozen hand-grenades and enough C-4 to blow the doors off the US Embassy? I am truly grateful and humbled by your birthday gifts, but I am unworthy of such magnificent and bountiful offerings. I beg of you, please, take these wonderfully murderous munitions back. Keep them until I have proven I deserve them.
Oh? You insist? Well in that case, I gratefully accept your death-dealing gifts! I will put them to good use immediately!
Here! Hot potato!
Ha ha!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Posted in accismus
Tagged accismus, current-events, elocutio, example, Explosive birthday gifts, figures of speech, hot potato, rhetoric, The Daily Trope, trope
Acervatio (ak-er-va’-ti-o): Latin term Quintilian employs for both asyndeton (acervatio dissoluta: a loose heap) and polysyndeton (acervatio iuncta: a conjoined heap).
Asyndeton: the omission of conjunctions between clauses, often resulting in a hurried rhythm or vehement effect.
Stand up, speak, talk, yell, gesture, cry, scream, laugh, cry again–do whatever needs to be done to move the constipated blocks of stinking cheese euphemistically called “the audience.”
Let them know, if they don’t get up and go, another child will cry, and go hungry, and be dehydrated, and fall overboard, and drown, and end up face-down-dead on a beach instead of chasing blue waves and laughing, and eating ice cream, and watching shore birds, and paddling, and swimming to his mother’s outstretched arms!
Polysydeton: employing many conjunctions between clauses, often slowing the tempo or rhythm.
Stand up, speak, talk, yell, gesture, cry, scream,laugh, cry again–do whatever needs to be done to move the constipated blocks of stinking cheese euphemistically called “the audience.”
Let them know, if they don’t get up and go, another child will cry, and go hungry, and be dehydrated, and fall overboard, and drown, and end up face-down-dead on a beach instead of chasing blue waves, and laughing, and eating ice cream, and watching shore birds, and paddling, and swimming to his mother’s outstretched arms!
Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Posted in acervatio
Tagged acervatio, asyndeton, current-events, dead children, elocutio, example, figures of speech, polysyndeton, Refugees, rhetoric, The Daily Trope, trope
Acoloutha: The substitution of reciprocal words; that is, replacing one word with another whose meaning is close enough to the former that the former could, in its turn, be a substitute for the latter. This term is best understood in relationship to its opposite, anacoloutha.
We are gathered here to mourn the loss of our colleagues and friends.
We are assembled here to show our solidarity with their families, loved ones, and friends.
And finally, we are standing here to show the world that we are not afraid, that our lives will go on even as they are touched by absences and tragic memories.
We live in times already horrific enough when murder, pillage and rape are cloaked in religion, ideology, and nationalism and all the other disguises worn by viscous criminals.
But there is no disguising madness.
There is no disguising the fact that in the USA demonstrably crazy people have easy access to weapons–to bullets, to triggers, and to their victims who are as innocent and unsuspecting in their daily lives as infants are in their parents’ arms.
We look at each other with tears in our eyes and despair in our hearts. We ask, “Who next? Where next?”
We must answer these questions for our fallen friends, family members, loved ones and colleagues for they are gone forever; silenced, pushed out of our lives by the mad hands of murder.
We must answer “who next” with “nobody.”
We must answer “where next” with “nowhere.”
And together, we must do everything humanly possible to deprive the insane–the mentally mangled narcissists who murder unarmed innocent people–we must do everything humanly possible to deprive them of their bullets, rifles, and pistols and their alleged ‘right’ to bear arms.
So, as we stand together, so we shall talk together, walk together and collectively voice our raging sorrow to those who permit mass murders by arming, by law and by flawed gun control policies, people who should be in psychiatric wards, not on campuses, in hallways, and in classrooms killing teachers, killing students, killing staff people or anybody else they can aim at and shoot at through the beguiling haze of their insanity.
At a minimum we demand a government-funded full psychiatric evaluation, and periodic reevaluation, of every gun owner and every individual who intends to purchase a firearm of any kind for any purpose, from now until the end of time.
We are sick of hearing about seemingly “normal, quiet people” who purchase firearms legally and then use them to commit mass murder.
We must go forward together and agitate, and demonstrate, and never again placate with our votes those who would stand in our way and collude in arming and equipping mentally unbalanced murderers as if they were Ken and Barbie going off to target practice at their favorite shooting range, which may turn out to be the local high school, community college, or university.
May our lost colleagues, family members, spouses, loved ones and friends forever rest in peace.
And, may we never rest until we have our way and clear the future of the suffering, anguish, and pain we feel here today.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Posted in acoloutha
Tagged acoloutha, current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, gun control, mourning, rhetoric, school massacres, The Daily Trope, trope
Adage (ad’-age): One of several terms describing short, pithy sayings, or traditional expressions of conventional wisdom.
“When the going gets tough, the tough get Flomax.” Dr. Gowyn McBunnet (From Bowling Balls to BBs: The Golden Book of Prostate Wisdom)
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Adianoeta: An expression that, in addition to an obvious meaning, carries a second, subtle meaning (often at variance with the ostensible meaning).
I am so excited that Armageddon is showing its face in Syria, Afghanistan, Niger, Iraq, Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Somalia, Yemen, CAR, and even Ukraine! I am sure I’ve left out some additional sites of blood, stench, bombing, bullets, and the slaughtering of innocent people. I apologize for that!
Do you think the United Nations is excited too? One would think so! After 70 years of endless turmoil, perhaps its end is finally in sight!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Posted in adianoeta
Tagged adianoeta, Armageddon, current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, rhetoric, The Daily Trope, trope, United Nations
Adnominatio (ad-no-mi-na’-ti-o): 1. A synonym for paronomasia [punning]. 2. A synonym for polyptoton. 3. Assigning to a proper name its literal or homophonic meaning.
1. Your math is trouble sum.
2. The deal dealt dealing with the current refugee crisis leaves a great deal to be desired, especially where Hungary is concerned–an EU member nation with an F-U attitude toward the suffering, displaced, hungry, tired, frightened women, men and children fleeing death.
3. Headline: “Trump Wins Bridge With Lawsuit”
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.
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Posted in adnominatio
Tagged adnominatio, Bridge, current-events, elocutio, EU, example, F-U, figures of speech, Hungary, rhetoric, The Daily Trope, trope, trouble sum, Trump
Adynaton (a-dyn’-a-ton): A declaration of impossibility, usually in terms of an exaggerated comparison. Sometimes, the expression of the impossibility of expression.
Today Putin spoke at the UN. His speech was touted by Russian media, forecasting it as a “speech that will change the world.”
Every time I fart, I change the world.
Every meter I walk changes the world.
Everything we do and say changes the world.
So, if Russian media meant that, like a fart blown into the wind, or a footprint on a piece of grass, Putin’s speech would change the world, to be sure, they were correct.
But, if the world-changing speech they forecast was supposed to affect other aspects of the world, beyond its blowing wind and the electricity used to broadcast it, their forecast was a dream–an impossible dream prompted by somebody’s megalomania and the misguided, if not psychotic, delusion of grandeur exemplified by a smallish balding shirtless man on horseback single-handedly liberating Crimea from its Western oppressors and stamping out the disease of democracy infecting its political institutions with the virus of social media and festering elections.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Posted in adynaton
Tagged adynaton, Crimea, current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, Putin UN speech, rhetoric, smallish balding shirtless man, The Daily Trope, trope
Affirmatio (af’-fir-ma’-ti-o): A general figure of emphasis that describes when one states something as though it had been in dispute or in answer to a question, though it has not been.
They question the legitimacy of the Bible as the fundamental guide to goodness and the rule of our lives. “It’s just another book. A wonderful work of ancient literature” they say. They scoff at religion’s foundation in faith and its belief in what cannot be seen or known. “It’s unscientific. It’s a delusion. The opiate of the masses” they say.
We say they stand in the shadows of evil casting off the chords of conscience, rejecting faith, resisting the divine prompting of God’s saving grace and His invitation to the wonders of His endless love.
We know. Sinners will sin.
Yet, the righteous glory in God’s love and pray for the sinners’ salvation.
By the grace of God’s mercy and the almighty grip of His righteous hand, we pray for God’s forgiveness–for the instant salvation of the damned.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Posted in affirmatio
Tagged affirmatio, current-events, delusion, elocutio, example, faith, figures of speech, God, rhetoric, sinners, The Daily Trope, trope
Aganactesis (ag’-an-ak-tee’-sis): An exclamation proceeding from deep indignation.
Your dog crapped on my lawn again.
You just stood there and watched!
If it happens again, you’re having dog crap for dinner you feckless poopmeister!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Posted in aganactesis
Tagged aganactesis, current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, poopmeister, rhetoric, The Daily Trope, trope
Allegory (al’-le-go-ry): A sustained metaphor continued through whole sentences or even through a whole discourse.
Grecian Debt Krisis
There was this Greek who lived in a cave. His name was Agamomhen. Agamomhen’s cave was located on the edge of the Mountain of Debt near the Valley of Austerity. Agamomhen had no pants, no wallet, no shirt, no car, no bicycle, no donkey, no MasterCard, no hat. However, he did possess the Magic Honey Jar. When Agamomhen put his hand in the jar his fingers became sticky. But sticky fingers did not help. For there was nothing he could stick to them anywhere near the Mountain of Debt.
Ah ha! Agamomhen thought, “I can woo Queen Merkle-Pickle of Germymany. She has much coal and good lager. With luck, my fingers may stick to her!”
So, Agamomhen covered himself with an empty can of Sun*Med giant beans and walked out into the sunlight.
He tripped over a bag of worthless drachma and tumbled down the steep slope of The Mountain of Debt. He lay badly injured in the hot dust, paperwork, and sheep dung littering the Valley of Austerity. Agamomhen gazed upon the empty bean can concealing his manhood. It was dented. The label had been torn off by his fall. He peed in it while he waited for the government ambulance.
Bladder drained, Agamomhen felt good. Suddenly he heard the sirens! The OOOH-YOU ZONE Rescue Vehicle was coming!
As he was transported from the Valley of Austerity, Agamomhen struggled to look forward from his Binding Gurney. He couldn’t see where he was going.
Instead, the foul smells of schnapps, urine, bratwurst, and mustard coming from the front seat made Agamomhen wretch. From his Binding Gurney, all he could do was watch the swirling cloud of dust, paperwork, and sheep dung trailing behind the wailing OOH-YOU Rescue Vehicle.
Agamomhen could not help but think, “I should’ve stayed in my cave on the Mountain of Debt.”
Just then, the Rescue Vehicle hit a huge pothole. Agamomhen was thrown out the back into the cloud of dust, paperwork, and dung, still strapped to his Binding Gurney. To his great dismay Agamomhen landed in a fresh pile of sheep dung with the Binding Gurney now strapped firmly to his back. He was injured, immobile, and stranded on the floor of The Valley of Austerity. Through the dust and litter Agamomhen could barely see the hand waving from the departing Rescue Vehicle’s driver’s side window. It’s middle finger was extended.
Emptied of its unwanted passenger, the OOH-YOU Rescue Vehicle raced madly toward Bruzzels leaving six or seven empty schnapps bottles and two to three jars of mustard in its wake.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Posted in allegory
Tagged allegory, current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, rhetoric, trope
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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)].
I’m at I.H.O.P. enjoying a pile of pancakes covered with chocolate ice-cream, Reese’s Pieces, and blueberry-flavored maple syrup when a guy walks in the door dressed in sweatpants, flip-flops, and and a t-shirt with a picture of Moe from the Three Stooges on it.
He started waving a napkin and yelling “I surrender, I surrender.”
I pick up my napkin and stand up and yell, “I surrender too!”
Next, everybody in the place follows our lead!
I sat down on my pancakes and then run out the door.
I hear sirens coming and breaking china from inside.
I pass out. I wake up. I am a pancake. Destitute. No butter. No Syrup. No nothing. Draped on the rim of a trashcan. Waiting for sundown and the roaches that will swarm on me.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Posted in alleotheta
Tagged alleotheta, antiptosis, current-events, elocutio, enallage, example, figures of speech, IHOP, rhetoric, roaches, trope
Alliteration (al-lit’-er-a’-tion): Repetition of the same letter or sound within nearby words. Most often, repeated initial consonants. Taken to an extreme alliteration becomes the stylistic vice of paroemion where nearly every word in a sentence begins with the same consonant.
When will the United States’ presidential primary campaign clown show be over with? We want world leaders running for office.
Ask yourself:
Could Bozo do the job? No.
Could Ronald MacDonald do the job? No.
What about Pee Wee Herman or Clarabell or Side-Show Bob or Benny Hill? No. No. No.
Well, maybe Benny Hill, but he belongs in British Parliamentary politics. Too bad he’s gone to the Big Panto in the sky.
Ralph Nader, where are you? Probably trapped in a Corvair somewhere in Canada.
Ross Perot, you are not demented (yet)! ‘Merica needs you now more than ever! Get out there! Wear your cowboy boots!! Walk all over Walker! Strangle Trump with your bolo tie!! Make Hilary ride side-saddle!! Put pearl snaps in Jeb’s corn flakes!! Ride Christie bareback around Trenton!!
Go Ross go!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Posted in alliteration
Tagged 'Merica, alliteration, benny hill, bozo, current-events, died show bob, elocutio, example, figures of speech, pee wee herman, rhetoric, ross perot, trope
Ampliatio (am’-pli-a’-ti-o): Using the name of something or someone before it has obtained that name or after the reason for that name has ceased. A form of epitheton.
(1) Nite nite my wonderful wife! Just think–tomorrow morning we’ll be married! I can’t wait! Tomorrow night calling you my wonderful wife will be a dream come true! Talk to you in the morning! Is it really possible to get married on SKYPE?
(2) Stop calling me “Captain Thruster.” The last time I thrusted was when I jumped out of the way when you almost ran me over in the driveway! And I peed my pants too! Why don’t you just call me “Private Noodle” and bring me another martini and some nachos? Where the hell are my glasses? Dammit!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Anacoenosis (an’-a-ko-en-os’-is): Asking the opinion or judgment of the judges or audience, usually implying their common interest with the speaker in the matter [and illustrating their communally-held ideals of truth, justice, goodness and beauty, for better and for worse].
Is it good to behead the infidels? To burn them alive? To shoot them in their terror-filled faces? To blow them to pieces of meat to land justly on Satan’s unholy table–to be eternally chewed, swallowed, vomited–each infidel feeling it all in every torn fragment of their flesh and every drop of their splattered blood?
Of course it is good!
Of course! Of course! Of course!
You clamor and shout your agreement! You signify your righteousness! You are truly men of faith!
Yes! We are blessed! We are virtuous! Our holy cause is just!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed test added by Gorgias.
Posted in anacoenosis
Tagged anacoenosis, blood, current-events, elocutio, example, figures of speech, infidels, martyrs, rhetoric, Satan, The Daily Trope, trope
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