Tag Archives: example

Diaphora

Posted on October 13, 2021 | Comments Off on Diaphora

Diaphora (di-a’-pho-ra): Repetition of a common name so as to perform two logical functions: to designate an individual and to signify the qualities connoted by that individual’s name or title.

Hey Don, you’re the boss, right? Should I call you Don Don, or just Don? Are you cutting a low profile? Is it still about rallying? The crowds are thinning like your hair. You can’t seem to grab a headline beyond the insurrection you orchestrated. Your minions are getting probation or going to jail. Rudy’s still pulling for you, but the hair dye dripping from his chin is distracting. Putin won’t give you the time of day. The Proud Bois are still proud to stand behind you. Maybe they should simply stand by. Social Security’s getting a 5% bump. You better say “bye bye” to the over-65 crowd.

Hey—maybe we should start calling you RICO. “Don Rico” has an ominous, yet poetic, ring to it. We all know where you’re headed Don Rico, and it isn’t going to be fun. Remember, you’re solely to blame for everything that happened—from the contracts on the border cages to your Belarusian fixers.

Shivs are more or less dull and painful, and they can’t be avoided by rats. Remember your Omertà Don Rico. If we hear squealing noises coming from your testimony, you’ll be lubricated.

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

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Diaporesis

Posted on October 12, 2021 | Comments Off on Diaporesis

Diaporesis: Deliberating with oneself as though in doubt over some matter; asking oneself (or rhetorically asking one’s hearers) what is the best or appropriate way to approach something [=aporia].

To bee or not to bee? It’s a honey of a question. Would it be sweet? Would I get stung and lose my investment? Would I just be buzzing around, wasting my time? Or, would I collect a mountain of pollen and live like a Queen?

Questions, questions, questions. How many questions do you have to ask before you can decide? How many questions do you have to ask before you seem indecisive?

Decisions are about the future. The future does not exist. Decisions are driven by hope and fear—one person’s hope is another person’s fear, and the other way around. What a bummer. I think I’ll just flip a coin and let fate decide. Heads I bee, tails I bee not.

Damn! I don’t have any coins. I think I’ll ask some beekeepers what they think.

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

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Diaskeue

Posted on October 11, 2021 | Comments Off on Diaskeue

Diaskeue (di-as-keu’-ee): Graphic peristasis (description of circumstances) intended to arouse the emotions.

It was 96 Fahrenheit. I was standing in front of the airport terminal in Manila, waiting for a bus. I had just arrived from northern New York where it was the middle of winter and 15 Fahrenheit when I left. I should’ve been wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but I was wearing a suit and a heavy woolen overcoat. I had one suitcase, a carry-on bag, and a briefcase with nothing in it. I took off my overcoat and laid it on top of my luggage.

A raggedy-looking teenage boy ran by and grabbed my coat and briefcase. I needed to cut a low profile, so I kept my mouth shut and watched my stuff disappear down the sidewalk. That’s when I realized, when I paid for my entry visa, I had put my wallet into my coat pocket—my credit cards, my cash, my passport. My cellphone was in my other coat pocket. This was truly bad. Thank God I had my bus ticket.

The bus arrived at my stop near my hotel after over an hour of stop and go through Manila’s jammed traffic. I walked into the lobby and up to the main desk. I told the guy behind the desk my name. He asked to see my passport. I knew a saga was brewing. I thought for a minute and did what the situation called for. I took off my suit coat, rolled up my sleeve, and showed the deskman the tattoo on my left forearm. Given how the plane and hotel reservations were made, and paid for, I figured he might be part of the story, recognize the tattoo, and give me a break. He did more than give me a break. He put me in the Presidential Suite. He must’ve known why I was there. I called my contact and he told me his crew had already caught “the little miscreant” who had stolen my coat and briefcase and that he had been properly disciplined. I was not surprised—the people I work with have networks as deep as the Mariana Trench.

I had the maps, the photographs, and specifications in my suitcase. It was time to go to work.

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

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Diasyrmus

Posted on October 10, 2021 | Comments Off on Diasyrmus

Diasyrmus (di’-a-syrm-os): Rejecting an argument through ridiculous comparison.

The point you’re trying make is like trying to use a pushpin to hold up your pants. It might work, but it will be painful and it won’t be effective in the long run.

You should know by now, as the world’s premier gum ball manufacturer, we’ve got to use a belt to hold up our pants. Painless. Effective. Attractive. In 100 years of rolling out the gum balls by the millions, we’ve learned one thing: If it ain’t stuck to the floor, don’t scrape it up.

There’s no room for innovation here at Sweet Balls. We use pushpins to post notes on the bulletin board on the shop floor. We tried sticky notes, but they fell off. So don’t tell me about new gum ball presses that will reduce our workforce and make us more money. The new computer driven presses have not been vetted, and I don’t trust the guy who started the company: DeJoy. When he was Postmaster, everything he touched that plugged into the wall broke. But worse: laying off our loyal employees will cause them hardships they don’t deserve. It will inflict pain and arouse anger. That’s not what Sweet Balls is about.

That’s it, son. If you continue to pester me, I will have you shot.

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

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Diazeugma

Posted on October 9, 2021 | Comments Off on Diazeugma

Diazeugma (di-a-zoog’-ma): The figure by which a single subject governs several verbs or verbal constructions (usually arranged in parallel fashion and expressing a similar idea); the opposite of zeugma.

The light was making a sound. Like the wind. A psycho-hurricane. A siren. A yacht horn.

I couldn’t think straight. Hearing a reflection. I shouldn’t have taken the little orange pill I found on the table by my bed. It was sitting on a note that said “Take Me.” So I did. I thought it was a complimentary vitamin—it looked just like my “Centrum” multivitamin.

So, I took off my pants and headed down to the lobby. I met an attractive woman in the elevator. She waved her room key at me and said, “I like a man with no pants.”

By this time colorful melting was starting. The sound had gone away. My name is “Grotesque” said the flashing diamond-coated woman as she held her hotel room’s rubbery door open for me. Her face was all puffed up, perfectly round, and covered with colored confetti-like flecks. She had a sort of aurora floating near the top of her head, changing colors from yellow, to red, to blue, to green. Suddenly, she picked up the room’s cordless phone and aimed it at me. I started whining “Please don’t shoot me.”

She said, “I got a busboy to put the pill by your bed. I’ve been on your trail since you left Clinton on Monday. Don’t you remember me from high school? You told me you would marry me if we had sex. Well, you didn’t marry me. Nobody’s married me. Soon, I will be too old to bear your baby. This is Vegas. We can get married now.”

My hands turned into bowls of granola as I tried to figure out what to say.

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

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Dicaeologia

Posted on October 8, 2021 | Comments Off on Dicaeologia

Dicaeologia (di-kay-o-lo’-gi-a): Admitting what’s charged against one, but excusing it by necessity.

I was speeding. Yes, I was going 40MPH in a 25 MPH zone. Yes, I ran over your daughter’s turtle, Smudge. I didn’t even slow down after flattening Smudge. I know how much he meant to Chrissy.

But you should know: My three-year-old son Edward tripped and fell on a broken wine bottle I smashed in our back yard out of anger over Betty’s fling with the exterminator.

Edward was wounded in the chest and he was coughing and bleeding profusely. It reminded me of a sucking chest wound I saw in Afghanistan.

Instead of calling 911, I picked him up and ran to the car with one idea in mind: get Edward to the emergency room and get the wound closed up as soon as humanly possible. Crying, I laid Edward on the front seat. He was unconscious, and I was afraid he was gone.

Tires squealing, I took off down Willow Street. I didn’t expect to see a turtle. Yes, I crushed Smudge in my desperation to get Edward to the emergency room. I am truly sorry. I know how it feels to lose a loved one.

Edward is recovering. I am so grateful. Again, please forgive me for what I did to Smudge. I am so very sorry. Chrissy, let’s you, me, and your dad go to the pet store and check out the turtles. Ok?

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

A paper edition of The Daily Trope, entitled The Book of Tropes, is available for purchase on Amazon for $9.99 USD. It contains over 200 schemes and tropes with their definitions and examples. There is also a Kindle edition available for $5.99.

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Dilemma

Posted on October 7, 2021 | Comments Off on Dilemma

Dilemma (di-lem’-ma): Offering to an opponent a choice between two (equally unfavorable) alternatives.

“Either, or.” I think some Danish philosopher used this as the title of one of his books. In the end, life may boil down to ‘either or’—you can’t get anywhere with ‘maybe.’ At some point, if your life is to have any meaning at all, you’ve got to decide, either or.

You got caught stealing inventory—mainly faucets and garbage disposals. 10 of each to be exact. I’m the one who is tasked with deciding what to do with you. I thought about having a hitter shoot you in the head in the parking lot, but I can’t be implicated in a capital crime. I ‘m sure you understand.

So, I’m going to let you decide. I have two proposals: 1. You scrub the warehouse floor on your knees and barefooted three times a day, every day, for the rest of your natural life; 2. You stick one of the stolen faucets up your ass every Tuesday, have it poke out the back of your pants and yell “I’m a sink” every 30 minutes until we close.

Remember, when you took this job, I promised you lifetime employment. That means you can’t quit. Your disloyalty has brought you to this juncture. If you disappear, we’ll hunt you down. If you rat us out, your life may become considerably shorter.

So, what’ll it be, scrubbing floors, or walking around with a faucet sticking out of your ass? One or the other. Choose.

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

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Dirimens Copulatio

Posted on October 6, 2021 | Comments Off on Dirimens Copulatio

Dirimens Copulatio (di’-ri-mens ko-pu-la’-ti-o): A figure by which one balances one statement with a contrary, qualifying statement (sometimes conveyed by “not only … but also” clauses). A sort of arguing both sides of an issue.

Protagoras (c. 485-410 BC) asserted that “to every logos (speech or argument) another logos is opposed,” a theme continued in the Dissoi Logoi of his time, later codified as the notion of arguments in utrumque partes (on both sides). Aristotle asserted that thinking in opposites is necessary both to arrive at the true state of a matter (opposition as an epistemological heuristic) and to anticipate counterarguments. This latter, practical purpose for investigating opposing arguments has been central to rhetoric ever since sophists like Antiphon (c. 480-410 BC) provided model speeches (his Tetralogies) showing how one might argue for either the prosecution or for the defense on any given issue. As such, [this] names not so much a figure of speech as a general approach to rhetoric, or an overall argumentative strategy. However, it could be manifest within a speech on a local level as well, especially for the purposes of exhibiting fairness (establishing ethos [audience perception of speaker credibility].

This pragmatic embrace of opposing arguments permeates rhetorical invention, arrangement, and rhetorical pedagogy. [In a sense, ‘two-wayed thinking’ constitutes a way of life—it is tolerant of differences and may interpret their resolution as contingent and provisional, as always open to renegotiation, and never as the final word. Truth, at best, offers cold comfort in social settings and often establishes itself as incontestable, by definition, as immune from untrumque partes, which may be considered an act of heresy and may be punishable by death.]

Somebody said, “If there’s a fork in the road, take it.” Funny, but not helpful in making a decision. Rather, when we reach a fork in the road, like we have today, we must choose one way or the other. Otherwise, we sit here here parked on life’s road shoulder, idling, going nowhere. The fork’s two tines may take us to different destinations, but in this case they take us to the same destination: building a new warehouse complex in Puerto Rico.

We’ve settled on Puerto Rico, we’ve settled on the warehouse project, but now we must decide whether to hire locals, or bring in our own laborers to work construction.

Ok, what do you have to say?

Definition and commentary courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text by Gogias, Editor of Daily Trope.

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Distinctio

Posted on October 5, 2021 | Comments Off on Distinctio

Distinctio (dis-tinc’-ti-o): Eliminating ambiguity surrounding a word by explicitly specifying each of its distinct meanings.

1. Pump: a device that raises, transfers, delivers, or compresses fluids or that attenuates gases especially by suction or pressure or both: gas pump

2. Pump: to pour forth, deliver, or draw with or as if with a pump: pumped money into the economy

3. Pump: to question persistently: pumped him for the information

4. Pump: a shoe that grips the foot chiefly at the toe and heel especially: a close-fitting woman’s dress shoe with a moderate to high heel

Pump, pump, pump,pump. That’s a lot of pumping. I think “pumping you full of lead” is covered in pump number two. It’s amazing how the multiple definitions of the same word are like rays emanating from the founding word, each meaning shining it’s sense on different objects, actions, or concepts. In the case of pumping you full of lead, I think it may be a figure of speech. “Lead” may refer to the 9mm lead bullets I’m going to use, blasting them out of their brass casings, and out the barrel of my Beretta. “Pumping” may refer to pulling the trigger and spraying a stream of “lead” into your traitorous head.

I hope you’ve appreciated this definitional adventure. Now it’s time to give you what you deserve. I’m pretty pumped!

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Ecphonesis

Posted on October 3, 2021 | Comments Off on Ecphonesis

Ecphonesis (ec-pho-nee’-sis): An emotional exclamation.

Hosanna! Here comes Mr. Crack, my connection! I’ll be on the pavement tonight, drooling, staring at the starry night, heart beating out a rhumba beat. My soul will be restored! My pants will be marinating in urine! Hallelujah!

Whoever said drugs are bad for you was crazy—part of the notorious pedophile George Soros’s conspiracy to thwart human happiness. With his free clinics and fake counseling he snares unsuspecting libertines with lies about their mothers and free food, especially, and ironically, with lithium-laced baklava flown in directly from Sparta, Greece.

Oh God! I don’t have any money! Now I’ll have to get off my lazy ass and rob somebody. Here comes somebody. I’ll use my rubber knife to scare him.

“Hey chumpinola, hand over your wallet or I’ll stick a hole in you!”

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Thud.

Bystander: Look at that guy on the pavement bleeding all over the place! He’s been shot! He’s peed himself and he’s staring at the sky. He’s smiling, but I think he’s dead.

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

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Ellipsis

Posted on October 1, 2021 | Comments Off on Ellipsis

Ellipsis (el-lip’-sis): Omission of a word or short phrase easily understood in context.

Knock knock. You’re not there again. I think it’s all over now baby blue.

I’m leaving my heart in the dumpster behind your apartment. I would’ve preferred San Fransisco, but I’ve been stuck here in Lodi with you since we met last year.

Fool me once. . . . All good things. . . . Blah, blah, blah. The cliches encompassing our relationship’s demise are endless, like the bottomless bowl of bullshit you fed me for a little over a year.

But, I’ve found a new place to dwell. I’m your new next door neighbor. Wish me well!

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

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Enallage

Posted on September 30, 2021 | Comments Off on Enallage

Enallage (e-nal’-la-ge): The substitution of grammatically different but semantically equivalent constructions.

You want to knife me: to knife my self esteem, to slash me with your knife-sharp observations: with the blade made of well-honed lies—springing out of your mouth like the blade of an OTF switchblade, seeming true in my confusion, slashing my self esteem: murdering it.

Killing my self esteem isn’t a capital offense—you won’t be bundled off to prison to be propelled to your death by a lethal injection. But, you’ll derive just as much satisfaction from murdering my self respect as you would have if you had actually made my heart stop beating.

I’ll always think of you as a cold-blooded murderer. As I struggle to perform the miracle of resurrecting my self-esteem, I can’t help but wonder where your taste for betrayal and inflicting emotional suffering come from.

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

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Enigma

Posted on September 28, 2021 | Comments Off on Enigma

Enigma (e-nig’-ma): Obscuring one’s meaning by presenting it within a riddle or by means of metaphors that purposefully challenge the reader or hearer to understand.

Little Ones: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

What? You laugh and point to your heads and wag your fingers around?

I’m crazy?

That could be, but it is more likely the opposite is the case. The big word here is “if.” Woodchucks chucking is a sort of sophisticated pun playing with the word “chuck.” To some extent it is a critical commentary on the naming of the fat brown mammal. It does not “chuck” anything and there is no wood involved in its life. Nevertheless, this does not preclude the insertion of the word “if” illustrating, much like the tree that falls in the forest with nobody around, that we don’t know with absolute certainty whether woodchucks are chucking wood with nobody around. We don’t. Moreover, the homophones “wood” and “would” (how much wood would a woodchuck chuck) indicate the inadequacy of language, bridge the material (wood), the sentient (woodchuck), and the moral (would), and suggest it may be in the woodchuck’s nature to chuck IF it may indeed do clandestine wood chucking with beavers, assisting them at night in the construction of their dams. If you put a beaver and a woodchuck together, the only thing that distinguishes them are the beaver’s webbed feet and it’s big flat tail. Woodchucks have neither. Perhaps the woodchuck has an ancient genetically coded desire to “be” a beaver and chuck.

So, what have we learned today boys and girls? Answer: asking questions about woodchucks chucking wood is unhealthy. It’s like asking how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. When you speculate and conjecture it should be about the stock market or gold futures, or you may find yourselves chucking wood at the penitentiary.

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

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Ennoia

Posted on September 27, 2021 | Comments Off on Ennoia

Ennoia (en-no’-i-a): A kind of purposeful holding back of information that nevertheless hints at what is meant. A kind of circuitous speaking.

Why are you watching “Wheel of Fortune” like every other night? If you knew what I found out today, you’d be watching “Jeopardy ” instead.

There’s good and bad, right and wrong, and wrong, wrong, wrong!

Ok—I’ll come right out and say it: You mowed the lawn. Jimmy called and told me you were mowing away when he pulled up in his truck. He lost his wages to you. Not only that, our neighborhood status has taken a big hit: everybody hires a person to do their yard work and a certain order of prestige attaches to that.

This is what you do: laundry, grocery shopping, cooking. This is what they do: yard work, take care of the pool, and clean the house. This is what I do: go to work at the lye factory and have three martinis (which I make) each night when I get home. That’s it.


Listen to this: “Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.” I have a dream, or I thought, we had dream: to live a settled life with no speed bumps, potholes, or roadkills. If you’d rather live our lives in a mosh pit, let me know, but I need predicability, tranquility, and peace.

I don’t know. Maybe I do need to loosen up. There’s something sort of boring about predictability, tranquility, and peace. I know! Let’s go out to Butcher Bill’s Big Meats! I’ll have sweetbreads and the “New York High Rise Strip Steak,” and you can have the “Proper Vegetarian Salad” and some rolls. Sound like fun?

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

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Epanodos

Posted on September 25, 2021 | Comments Off on Epanodos

Epanodos (e-pan’-o-dos): 1. Repeating the main terms of an argument in the course of presenting it. 2. Returning to the main theme after a digression. 3. Returning to and providing additional detail for items mentioned previously (often using parallelism).

We have just enough money to pay for the pond—yes the pond —the one we agreed to make 2 weeks ago: fresh catfish, lotuses—white, pink, yellow, even red and blue, with a sweet smell; and big bullfrogs to “ribbit” and take care of mosquitos. And, of course, in winter we’ll have our own private hockey rink where Junior can practice his goalie moves.

I think we should call the backhoe guy and get moving: catfish, lotuses, bullfrogs, and a practice hockey rink. These are my reasons, that’s our pond. When Junior makes it to the NHL, he’ll thank us. We’ll have a catfish dinner by the pond to celebrate while we listen to the bullfrogs and smell the lotuses.

I’m dialing the phone.

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

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Epanorthosis

Posted on September 24, 2021 | Comments Off on Epanorthosis

Epanorthosis (ep-an-or-tho’-sis): Amending a first thought by altering it to make it stronger or more vehement.

Every time I look at you I see shining doves flying toward the future—no no—what I see are golden butterflies fluttering through a purple haze toward Buddha’s third eye: the all-seeing eye that gazes inwardly contemplating Samsara and the non-beginning of all that is endless.

I hope my vision of you is not too heavy to bear. I see myself as a garden tool, destined by our entwined Karma to cultivate your awakening and facilitate your flourishing as you follow the Noble Eightfold Path and become a vegetarian pacifist like Stephen Colbert or Dolly Parton. Laughter and music are keys to the door of Enlightenment. Ha ha. Jolene.

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

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Epenthesis

Posted on September 23, 2021 | Comments Off on Epenthesis

Epenthesis (e-pen’-thes-is): The addition of a letter, sound, or syllable to the middle of a word. A kind of metaplasm. Note: Epenthesis is sometimes employed in order to accommodate meter in verse; sometimes, to facilitate easier articulation of a word’s sound. It can, of course, be accidental, and a vice of speech.

I’m on a roll. Everything’s-a-goin my way. I would say “zippity do-dah, zippity-ay, my-oh-my what a wonderful day,” but that might be some kind of plagiarism.

It’s great the way ice cream and my daily meds make everything beautiful in it’s own way, like a starry night over the Netherlands or a Heineken on tap followed by a shot of jenever on a cold and stormy winter day.

Here I am in Van-f’in-Gogh land. Up to my knees in palette knives and mixing turpentine with my tea. I want the total experience. I want to see swirling halos around stars and death-knell crows flapping across hayfields, flying toward eternity in handgun-shaped formations.

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

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Epergesis

Posted on September 22, 2021 | Comments Off on Epergesis

Epergesis (e-per-gee’-sis): Interposing an apposition, often in order to clarify what has just been stated.

Stop singing “goat milk kefir in in the sky.” It’s “ghost riders in the sky.” Your mind is like an cosmic merry-go-round—orbiting around inside your head, decorated with shiny silver meteorites and painted plastic space creatures blurting gibberish as they go up and down, up and down, around and around.

That’s you, or I should say, that’s what I envision as your mind, which is pretty complimentary if you think about it.

Please stop singing “grackles keep falling on my head”—it’s “raindrops keep falling on my head” from the movie Midnight Cowboy’s instrumental theme with the lyrics added later for a Johnny Mathis album. Jeez! Oh come on: “Hey Moe, where you goin’ with Curly’s comb in your hand?” Really? It’s actually “Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?”

Mama and I named you Alfred after your grandfather, but everybody calls you Weird Al, even your grandfather! It’s because of your nearly constant public lyric twisting: at the mall, at school, at the bowling alley—everywhere! We know you can’t help it. Maybe you can make a career of it somehow.

Our weird son Al, the musical genius!

Stop that! It isn’t “You ain’t nothin’ but a peat bog.” It’s “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog.” But you know that, don’t you, Weird Al?

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

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Epexegesis

Posted on September 21, 2021 | Comments Off on Epexegesis

Epexegesis (ep-ex-e-ge’-sis): When one interprets what one has just said. A kind of redefinition or self-interpretation (often signaled by constructions such as “that is to say. . .”).

You are a toad. That is, you pee on the hand that holds you—holds you close like a brother, who listens to your pain, who wants to take you out to dinner, and drive you around in his convertible—top down—on a warm August night. But, you are a toad. You’re like a Cane Toad—invasive, toxic: when I see you, I sweat and shake and my heart beats way too fast. When we first met I thought these were symptoms of love. Since you hopped away to Florida, I’ve come to realize they were symptoms of something like mild bufotoxin poisoning: the only thing I missed out on were paralysis and death.

Nevertheless, I love you. Please come home. Together, we can work with a therapist to help you shed your toad-like ways and become like a parrot, a puppy, or a person. Do you want a plane ticket or an Uber ride to bring you home? Or, I can pick you up in Palm Beach at the place where you’re staying: Mar O Lugo, or something like that. I will text you tonight.

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

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Epicrisis

Posted on September 20, 2021 | Comments Off on Epicrisis

Epicrisis (e-pi-cri’-sis): When a speaker quotes a certain passage and makes comment upon it.

Related figures: anamenesis–calling to memory past matters. More specifically, citing a past author from memory–and chreia (from the Greek chreiodes, “useful”) . . . “a brief reminiscence referring to some person in a pithy form for the purpose of edification.” It takes the form of an anecdote that reports either a saying, an edifying action, or both.

I hate to do this, but the current political climate invites it, no, demands it.

“It is not truth that matters, but victory.” This quotation from Hitler seems to be expressive of a basic ultra-conservative Republican tenet. Lying, blatant lying, is a key strategy.

“Stop the steal” is a case in point. Clearly, by every credible measure, the Presidential election was not stolen. True believers have a desire, the desire is supported by the lie, hence it must be acted on as if it were true. Wresting the election away from Biden is more important than than the truth. Apart from being grounded in a lie, the statement itself sounds noble. If it were true, “stopping the steal” would be a good thing. True believers can’t be faulted for acting on a command uttered by the President of the US—a President whom they worship (for unknown reasons). Acting without considering the baselessness of the slogan gives true believers grounds for righteous indignation, anger and violence. After all, a stolen election is a big deal and President Trump said it was stolen from him.

Lying for victory’s sake is depraved, for it puts falsehood above truth, will lead to disaster, and will ultimately corrupt one’s character, and lead to defeat, as it did for the fascist cited above.

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

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Epilogus

Posted on September 19, 2021 | Comments Off on Epilogus

Epilogus (e-pi-lo’-gus): Providing an inference of what is likely to follow.

I thought it would be a one-night stand at Hotel 48, next to the train station, next to the bus station in Gallup, New Mexico. I was traveling from New York to LA on a Greyhound with a one-way ticket. LA was the end for me—if I didn’t get caught. I’d melt into the city of raucous weirdos, like butter on a hot piece of toast.

Gallup was a rest stop. We’d been going flat out since we left NYC, rolling along at 65 MPH through some the most boring scenery in the world.

She was half asleep, sitting there, nodding off & then looking up, about every 10 seconds. At some point she looked at me, smiled, opened her eyes wider, and slowly rubbed the inside of her thigh.

Upon seeing that, my first thought was, “No LA tomorrow morning.” That was my second thought too. The next thing I knew it was morning and we were walking hand-in-hand through Hotel 48’s lobby dragging our bags. We had become lovebirds. Our bus for Vegas was leaving in 15 minutes—we had to hurry. We had plans.

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

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Epimone

Posted on September 18, 2021 | Comments Off on Epimone

Epimone (e-pi’-mo-nee): Persistent repetition of the same plea in much the same words.

Get vaccinated. Wear a mask. You don’t want to kill your wife and elderly neighbors. You don’t want to commit suicide. You don’t want a ventilator jammed down your throat.

Get the shots. Cover your mouth and nose. Listen to your doctor. Listen to the CDC. Don’t be a victim of misinformation. The lies being told that have influenced you are tantamount to manslaughter. Believe them, and your chances of surviving the pandemic are reduced.

Get vaccinated. Wear a mask. Don’t kill yourself and don’t kill the people you love. Do it.

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

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Epiplexis

Posted on September 17, 2021 | Comments Off on Epiplexis

Epiplexis (e-pi-plex’-is): Asking questions in order to chide, to express grief, or to inveigh. A kind of rhetorical question [–the speaker does not expect an answer].

Why am I such a shitty father? I wake up on the floor and you’re already up pouring milk on the kitchen counter, cereal bowl overflowing—what a mess. Just like our lives. When your mother left with her “work out” instructor, you were 2, and it’s been downhill ever since. Why can’t I pull it together? It’s just a matter of time before Child Protection Services comes banging on our door. I’m not crying, but I’m close—close to running out the door wailing and disappearing over the horizon. I didn’t mean that, but I’m heartbroken.

Why can’t I stop sobbing and do something? Why can’t I do the right thing for once? Mama’s still paying for my health insurance. Although it probably won’t work, I am going to try counseling.

First order of business: dump the vodka down the drain and give you a bath. I am so sorry Rusty. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.

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

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Epistrophe

Posted on September 16, 2021 | Comments Off on Epistrophe

Epistrophe (e-pis’-tro-fee): Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words.

The onus that has been placed on you is not a burden. Bearing it, you may display your well-known wisdom. The walls, and even the vaults of the cathedral, will ring with your wisdom. The congregants will stand and applaud your wisdom.

This wisdom centers on decisions you’ve made that are freighted with charity, prudence, and frugality and your ability to bridge our divisions with faith. You have wound the delicate thread of community around us, gently, without anger or outbursts of righteous indignation.

We are awed by your wisdom.

We are comforted by your wisdom.

We are grateful for your wisdom.

May God bless you for the rest of your days, and bless us too with your continuing presence in our lives.

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

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Epitasis

Posted on September 15, 2021 | Comments Off on Epitasis

Epitasis (e-pit’-a-sis): The addition of a concluding sentence that merely emphasizes what has already been stated. A kind of amplification. [The opposite of anesis.]

Will they behave? Can they behave? Saturday’s “Pro-Trump Rally” will tell the tale. Not only that, we may find out what “Pro-Trump” means. My sense is that it means a truck load of shit: anger inducing assertions about what is wrong with government that are based in misinformation and lies, and the worst lies: the conspiracy theories that frame too many Americans as gullible dupes with no critical reasoning skills. Or maybe the Trump supporters are serial adulators who’re too old for idolizing Rock Stars and have targeted Trump for his Rock ‘n Roll bad boy demeanor. He can’t sing, but Trump’s incoherent yelling verges on Meatloaf, or even some kind of fry, or death metal, screaming.

I hate to say it, but I will probably tune in on the rally to be better informed about what’s going on in Trump world, for the entertainment value, and to find relief by laughing and yelling at the TV.

Informed. Entertained. Relieved. Good reasons to watch.

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

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