Tag Archives: elocutio

Syllepsis

Posted on May 27, 2021 | Comments Off on Syllepsis

Syllepsis (sil-lep’-sis): When a single word that governs or modifies two or more others must be understood differently with respect to each of those words. A combination of grammatical parallelism and semantic incongruity, often with a witty or comical effect. Not to be confused with zeugma: [a general term describing when one part of speech {most often the main verb, but sometimes a noun} governs two or more other parts of a sentence {often in a series}].

He caught the high fly ball and a glimpse of his emerging prowess as a ball player. He heard the umpire yell “ouuut” with his stretched out voice. He knew then that this was his home—his life, his fate. Baseball. He carried high hopes and the equipment bag back to the locker room. Could he do it? Could he make it as a baseball player? He would try.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

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Symploce

Posted on May 26, 2021 | Comments Off on Symploce

Symploce (sim’-plo-see or sim’-plo-kee): The combination of anaphora and epistrophe: beginning a series of lines, clauses, or sentences with the same word or phrase while simultaneously repeating a different word or phrase at the end of each element in this series.

There is a garden of light and life growing in my head.

There is a river of imagery and imagination flowing through my head.

There is never a moment of stillness operative in my head.

There it rages. The protean ooze sloshing in my head.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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Synaloepha

Posted on May 25, 2021 | Comments Off on Synaloepha

Synaloepha (sin-a-lif’-a): Omitting one of two vowels which occur together at the end of one word and the beginning of another. A contraction of neighboring syllables. A kind of metaplasm.

I love you. ‘Bout as much as my poodle, Bill. I do! I know you find it hard to believe. It’s no big deal with me sleeping in the bed with Bill. I got you a blanket and everything for the couch—that’s love! Can you take Bill for a walk?

WHAT!! Bill got off his leash and got hit by a car? He’s dead? Oh my God. Who will share my bed now? Did you just raise your hand? Poor Bill, he didn’t have a chance. I guess you can move your blanket into our room. Bill won’t mind.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Synathroesmus

Posted on May 24, 2021 | Comments Off on Synathroesmus

Synathroesmus (sin-ath-res’-mus): 1. The conglomeration of many words and expressions either with similar meaning (= synonymia) or not (= congeries). 2. A gathering together of things scattered throughout a speech (= accumulatio [:Bringing together various points made throughout a speech and presenting them again in a forceful, climactic way. A blend of summary and climax.])

Colors, shades, hues, tones, tints: you can’t make up your mind what to slap on the bathroom walls. Pelican pink? Babylon blue? Raw meat red? Gang green? Minced mauve? You have to make a choice and there are countless color options. Reality is what spans color’s spectrum. Without it there would be no indication that anything’s there, aside from tripping over it, colliding with it or stepping on it. So, make a choice. Pick a color. Paint the bathroom, or leave it Poo-poo beige—the color you’ve lived for 15 years: isn’t it time for a change! Isn’t it time to choose? Your bathroom will be reborn. The time you spend there will be better! Do it!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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Synecdoche

Posted on May 23, 2021 | Comments Off on Synecdoche

Synecdoche (si-nek’-do-kee): A whole is represented by naming one of its parts (or genus named for species), or vice versa (or species named for genus).

What kind of marriage is this? You throw me crumbs. I’m getting ready to ink the bye bye papers. Is that what you want, baby? Do you want to be out there on your own, like Jim Morrison sang, “like a dog without a bone”? All these years, I’ve let you do my laundry, clean the house and service me twice a day. This is what I get? “No” should not be in your vocabulary when it comes to me, baby! These heels are gonna walk right out that door a never return. Is that what you want my little loser? Oh, ooty pooty, did I make you sore?

Hey, who’re those guys coming up the driveway with golf clubs and balaclavas? Where’s my phone? Go and tell them to go away! Stop throwing cookies at me and laughing. Don’t answer the door! Shit!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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Synonymia

Posted on May 22, 2021 | Comments Off on Synonymia

Synonymia (si-no-ni’-mi-a): In general, the use of several synonyms together to amplify or explain a given subject or term. A kind of repetition that adds emotional force or intellectual clarity. Synonymia often occurs in parallel fashion. The Latin synonym, interpretatio, suggests the expository and rational nature of this figure, while another Greek synonym, congeries, suggests the emotive possibilities of this figure.

Truth, veracity, fact—valorized to the detriment of their opposites, which may come in handy in the fractured prospects of life’s overwhelming complexities. It is always a question, whether to lie, prevaricate, dissemble—to misrepresent the truth—to obscure it with hope and to create a survivable social reality: masking, concealing: hiding a refugee from the authorities, one’s religion from the operators of a latter-day Inquisition, a misdemeanor conviction from 25 years ago.

So, while the truth is always true, always telling it may have grave consequences: it can unjustly hurt, maim, wound or kill if disclosed to evil people.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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Synthesis

Posted on May 21, 2021 | Comments Off on Synthesis

Synthesis (sin’-the-sis): An apt arrangement of a composition, especially regarding the sounds of adjoining syllables and words.

Below, coral branches create a corridor of color, casting shadows on white and pink sand indented with ripples like sunken dunes. All I can hear is my slow breathing, tuning my body to the slipping currents. There’s more below me that I want to see, but that will have to wait. I lift my head from the water and swim toward shore.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Syntheton

Posted on May 21, 2021 | Comments Off on Syntheton

Syntheton (sin’-the-ton): When by convention two words are joined by a conjunction for emphasis.

Hopes and dreams can frame a healthy attitude toward the future—but realize, your hopes may be somebody else’s fears, and your dreams, their nightmares. Proceed accordingly.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Synzeugma

Posted on May 19, 2021 | Comments Off on Synzeugma

Synzeugma (sin-zoog’-ma): That kind of zeugma in which a verb joins (and governs) two phrases by coming between them. A synonym for mesozeugma.

Carnality’s echo, faintly detected, denotes the waning presence of life’s obsessions as the wall of its salacious attention softens and Eros is absorbed by time—by years, by life.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Systrophe

Posted on May 18, 2021 | Comments Off on Systrophe

Systrophe (si’-stro-fee): The listing of many qualities or descriptions of someone or something, without providing an explicit definition.

It was long and sharp and flashed in the sunlight like a mirror or a diamond, or a polished moon hubcap from back in the day. As I swung it around my head, it made a soft swooshing sound. I’d never made shish kabob before, but as I pierced the pieces of cubed red meat I thought about being stabbed, or stabbing a stranger sitting by me on the subway.

I closed my eyes and violently shook my head to exorcise the image. After tonight, I’m going vegetarian. I yelled to my buddy for a beer. I caught it and popped it open. I wondered what my buddy would taste like grilled. As I walked toward him, the world around us dimmed and disappeared. He looked terrified. I held out a piece of meat and said, “Try this! It could be your sister. Ha ha ha!” He didn’t laugh.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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Tapinosis

Posted on May 17, 2021 | Comments Off on Tapinosis

Tapinosis (ta-pi-no’-sis): Giving a name to something which diminishes it in importance.

Where did you get that ping-pong table hanging on the wall? Turn it on so we can watch the last episode of Dallas, or maybe the security cam in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Tasis

Posted on May 16, 2021 | Comments Off on Tasis

Tasis (ta’-sis): Sustaining the pronunciation of a word or phrase because of its pleasant sound. A figure apparent in delivery.

That’s the best damn ice cream I ever had—so gooood! What a flavor: chocolate angel food Saskatoon berry macadamia swirl. It’s a butter-smooth dollop of delight crammed into a rum waffle cone. Next, I’m going to try the raisin cashew durian lemon jalapeño pumpkin kale pistachio crunch.

It is going to be a yummmmy summmer!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Thaumasmus

Posted on May 15, 2021 | Comments Off on Thaumasmus

Thaumasmus (thau-mas’-mus): To marvel at something rather than to state it in a matter of fact way.

It was like a big black hubcap with holes in it hovering over my yard. I had never seen anything like it, silently hanging there, looking at me. I gave it the finger and it flew away. Amazing! Too much! Unbelievable!

Later that day I received an email with a photo of me attached, giving the finger. It was blackmail! You see, I’m a Baptist preacher. Giving the finger is out of bounds. I should’ve known. Ever since I called him out in front of the congregation for cutting back on his tithing, Porky Jones has been out to get me. Somebody let the air out of my tires. Somebody smeared dog poop on my front door. Somebody burned “I heart Satan” into my front lawn.

I had to do something—it was out of hand. I decided to contact my buddy Wild Man Piply from my Army days. He had no soul, so there was nothing there to save. But I had saved his butt too many times to remember: pulled out of pistol fights in sprawling Saigon whorehouses. Loaning him endless cash to cover his gambling debts in totally rigged Saigon casinos. Helping him get out of a scrape over a stolen Jeep. If anybody would help me and keep his mouth shut it was Wild Man Piply.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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Tmesis

Posted on May 14, 2021 | Comments Off on Tmesis

Tmesis (tmee’-sis): Interjecting a word or phrase between parts of a compound word or between syllables of a word.

No more mask. I got my shot so I’m not worrying too much—just a little. This whole thing has been a constant front page buzz—a pan-damn-demic all around the world—nobody spared the possibility of contracting it. We were bolted into our homes going nuts consuming every inch of news—unless we had to work: that was like jumping out of a foxhole and charging the enemy every day. At least we didn’t have to deal with rat flea fever.

We never imagined that this late in the world’s adventure we’d get a plague from cute little Pangolins and have a President who didn’t give a damn if we all died. Thank God we got rid of him, even if he tried to steal the election and overthrow our Democracy. I bid him good riddance along with THE DISEASE. Birds of a feather.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Topograhpia

Posted on May 13, 2021 | Comments Off on Topograhpia

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].

She clicked her heels together and said, “There’s no place like Olive Garden.” For some bizarre reason she expected to be transported to the ersatz piece of Italy hunkered in the mall: the epitome of coopted culture draped in a death-defying stereotype embroidered with profit-making glitz.

All the salad you can eat—oh, what an inauthentic touch! Olive Garden doesn’t even meet the standards of a low-budget movie set. From entry to exit—from the plaster portico to the plastic grapes, it’s a middle class muddle of layer fake.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

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Traductio

Posted on May 12, 2021 | Comments Off on Traductio

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.

I couldn’t stop laughing—laughing at the road sign, laughing at the dirty windows, laughing at my laughter like some meta-comic critic assessing “funny’s” final stand. This was beyond funny. It was hilarious. I shouldn’t have left her laughing by the side of the road, but she was eclipsing me, she put me in the shadows, she made me mad. I guess I better go back and pick her up and see if she’s still laughing. If she is, I may run her down.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Tricolon

Posted on May 11, 2021 | Comments Off on Tricolon

Tricolon (tri-co-lon): Three parallel elements of the same length occurring together in a series.

I stood. I turned. I farted. As I took my laptop out of the overhead bin, I noticed the man immediately across the aisle had his head in his hands and was pounding intermittently on his forehead. I didn’t know what to do, so I sat back down and booted up my laptop and picked up where I had left off that morning, working on my speech for the International Gummy Bear Brothers, an all-male club founded in the 1970s solely for the protection and advancement of Gummy Bear culture and the free flow of Gummy Bears across international borders. It was sort of like Doctors Without Borders, only with bear-shaped candies.

I offered a Gummy Bear to the woman sitting next to me. She looked at me like I was trying to poison her. I closed my laptop. The speech can wait. I need to put my laptop in the overhead bin.

I stood. I turned. I farted.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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Abating

Posted on May 10, 2021 | Comments Off on Abating

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).

This is the best one of these kinds of paintings I ever saw. It makes slightly less of a mess on the canvas than other untalented artists’ work does. You should really get into something you’re able to do well like raking leaves or going to the gym.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Abbaser

Posted on May 9, 2021 | Comments Off on Abbaser

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).

This isn’t the Queen Mary, but it floats. It’s not like that rich guy’s million dollar motor scow. He loads it up with beautiful women and rides it around and around the harbor at night with Frankie Ford blasting “Sea Cruise” from the ‘60s on his media player. He almost swamped my “Nemesis” the other night and I almost shot my flare gun at him; a minor offense considering his irresponsible idiocy. Anyway, the Coast Guard will nail him eventually.

Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

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Abecedarian

Posted on May 7, 2021 | Comments Off on Abecedarian

Abecedarian (a-be-ce-da’-ri-an): An acrostic whose letters do not spell a word but follow the order (more or less) of the alphabet.

A book covering dadaism’s encryptions fully; giddy historiographers’ ideal jackpot!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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Accismus

Posted on May 6, 2021 | Comments Off on Accismus

Accismus (ak-iz’-mus): A feigned refusal of that which is earnestly desired.

No! No! No! Please don’t give me another piece of your delicious chocolate-salami cake. I can’t stand being in Genoa and Bavaria at once—I want to wear lederhosen and sing opera!

Well, hmmm. I am losing my resolve.

Ok, Kraftwerk-Dante, cut me another slice. I love the gustatory clash.

Someday soon, you’ll have to come to my home and try my mushroom mousse and puréed tadpole; a recipe I obtained from a homeless person who lived by a pond. He had no electric appliances and made the dish entirely by hand with a small rock.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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Posted on May 5, 2021 | Comments Off on

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.

Hurry up, wait, damn! I can’t make up my mind about anything any more. My choice-making has become a disaster. Yesterday, I started out for the Doctor’s and ended up in a gas station rest room washing my face mask in the sink. This morning, I watched Fox News! What the hell is next? Leave the country by mistake? Shave my head? Awful, awful, awful! I need help!

Hey! Give me back my car keys!

Polysydeton: employing many conjunctions between clauses, often slowing the tempo or rhythm.

I went to the the Blue Boat Bar, and I met a beautiful woman, and I fed her some drinks, and I asked her to go home with me, and she laughed at me and called me pathetic. I don’t even know what “pathetic” means. I guess that makes me pathetic.

All my friends get girls all the time. I’m going to follow one of my friends, and spy on him, and learn his technique, and try it myself! He hangs out at the “Perfumed Sweatshirt.” It costs $60 to get in, but he’s met a lot of girls there. I’m going to disguise myself as a refrigerator repairman so he won’t recognize me, and see how it goes. I wonder if I should carry a toolbox and maybe a can of refrigerant.

Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Acoloutha

Posted on May 4, 2021 | Comments Off on Acoloutha

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.

Barbara cut her lawn. Edward mowed his lawn. Jimmy dressed his lawn. Carl cut off his finger with his hedge clippers. The ambulance ran him to the hospital. His wife Barb drove to the hospital, following the ambulance far behind with Carl’s finger in a little red and white lunch cooler. She was sure that the finger could be sewn back on. When she got to the hospital they told her that they already had Carl’s finger and had reattached it, and that Carl had to stay over night for observation. As she headed back home alone with the mystery finger in the chest beside her on the seat, she wondered if there were other body parts buried near the hedge. When she got home, she got the shovel out of the garage and took a closer look at the finger. Why didn’t she notice before? The nail of he severed finger was well-manicured. Carl’s nails had never been well manicured.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Acrostic

Posted on May 3, 2021 | Comments Off on Acrostic

Acrostic: When the first letters of successive lines are arranged either in alphabetical order (= abecedarian) or in such a way as to spell a word.

SCOTCH

Smooth

Captivating

Oasis,

Truly

Cast

Heavenly

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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Adage

Posted on May 2, 2021 | Comments Off on Adage

Adage (ad’-age): One of several terms describing short, pithy sayings, or traditional expressions of conventional wisdom.

He was chronically constipated, but he had a saying he quoted every morning as he sat on the toilet: “Slow and steady wins the race.” Sometimes he would read a book, catch up on his email, or sing a patriotic song.

Although it took a relatively long time, he always managed to go without laxatives or enemas. As he wiped, he often thought of Tolstoy’s musing on time: “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” He had those warriors on his side, and every morning they fought alongside him and helped propel him to victory over his sluggish bowels.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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