Tag Archives: rhetoric

Paraprosdokian

Posted on April 7, 2014 | Leave a comment

Paraprosdokian: A figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase [or series = anticlimax] is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe the first part. . . . For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists. An especially clever paraprosdokian not only changes the meaning of an early phrase, but also plays on the double meaning of a particular word.(1)

Give every man your ear but not thy finger.

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1. “Paraprosdokian.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 4 Jan 2008, 03:30 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 9 Jan 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian>.

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Paregmenon

Posted on April 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

Paregmenon (pa-reg’-men-on): A general term for the repetition of a word or its cognates in a short sentence. Often, but not always, polyptoton.

Bound by faith, we are bound by a common dream! Our dream is  our hope, and our “hope is the expectation of victory.”

Today we dream of liberation. Tomorrow we will awaken freedom! Tomorrow we will stand in the light of justice, see truth manifest and feel the unfathomable joy of of being free!

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

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Pareuresis

Posted on April 2, 2014 | Leave a comment

Pareuresis (par-yur-ee’-sis): To put forward a convincing excuse. [Shifting the blame.]

I just started as CEO of General Mortars. There is no way I had access to any information regarding defective ignition pins prior to September 1, 2014. You should be querying my predecessor who now works for General Mortals–the company that makes four-wheeled coffins.

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

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Paroemia

Posted on March 27, 2014 | Leave a comment

Paroemia (pa-ri’-mi-a): One of several terms describing short, pithy sayings. Others include adage, apothegm, gnome, maxim, proverb, and sententia.

“No pain. No gain.” Anon.

“No rain. No grain.” Old MacDougal (Had a Farm c. 1917)

“Beggars can’t be choosers.” Anon.

“Choosers can be beggars.” A.B. ‘One Ear’ Dale, Licensed Beggar by Stat. xxii. Hen. VIII. c. 1512.

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

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Paroemion

Posted on March 26, 2014 | Leave a comment

Paroemion (par-mi’-on): Alliteration taken to an extreme where nearly every word in a sentence begins with the same consonant. Sometimes, simply a synonym for alliteration or for homoeoprophoron [a stylistic vice].

Pretty pictures portraying perky popsicles parading past peerless pawnshops parasitically peddling punters peacoats, penknives,  peepholes, pigweeds, pontoons, porky polywogs, and postpaid pickles.

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Paromoiosis

Posted on March 24, 2014 | Leave a comment

Paromoiosis (par-o-moy-o’-sis): Parallelism of sound between the words of adjacent clauses whose lengths are equal or approximate to one another. The combination of isocolon and assonance.

How many  hearts are torn and broken?

How many hearths mourn the forsaken?

Salty tears. Empty chairs. Absence. Conscience.

The whole world cares.

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

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Paromologia

Posted on March 22, 2014 | Leave a comment

Paromologia (par-o-mo-lo’-gi-a): Conceding an argument, either jestingly and contemptuously, or to prove a more important point. A synonym for concessio.

You’re right! You caught me! I did it. I flushed your death meth bye bye down the toilet. You’re lucky you didn’t end up there first. Now it’s time for another even more expensive life-changing experience. It’s called REHAB! Pack your crap. I’m calling a cab.

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

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Paronomasia

Posted on March 21, 2014 | Leave a comment

Paronomasia (pa-ro-no-ma’-si-a): Using words that sound alike but that differ in meaning (punning).

I’m itching for some fuzzy math. No–scratch that! Today, I’m going to satisfy my constant craving by going straight to  linear equations!

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

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Parrhesia

Posted on March 20, 2014 | Leave a comment

Parrhesia (par-rez’-i-a): Either to speak candidly or to ask forgiveness for so speaking. Sometimes considered a vice.

I’m sorry. I don’t know how to tell you. Larry has disappeared from his cage. The door was open and his hamster wheel was spinning, but no Larry. I bet he’s a happy hammie snuggled in your laundry basket.

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

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Pathopoeia

Posted on March 18, 2014 | Leave a comment

Pathopoeia ( path-o-poy’-a): A general term for speech that moves hearers emotionally, especially as the speaker attempts to elicit an emotional response by way of demonstrating his/her own feelings (exuscitatio). Melanchthon explains that this effect is achieved by making reference to any of a variety of pathetic circumstances: the time, one’s gender, age, location, etc.

Being careful not to slip and fall down on what’s left of my neighbor next door, I continue my walk and follow my thoughts about death, my career, my car, last summer’s vacation, my flat screen TV, and my mother, daughter, and wife who ran beneath the tracer fire last night as it stitched up the sky with its thread of red, brighter than the dark puddle of blood collecting in the gutter and reflecting my dread.

I turn. I howl. I vomit.

My family is dead.

You call it war. I call it endless sorrow and pain. You call it just. I call it criminally insane.

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

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Perclusio

Posted on March 17, 2014 | Leave a comment

Perclusio (per-clu’-si-o): A threat against someone, or something.

If you don’t stop yelling, I’m going to start yelling, and when I start yelling your head is going to explode.

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

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Periergia

Posted on March 15, 2014 | Leave a comment

Periergia (pe-ri-er’-gi-a): Overuse of words or figures of speech. As such, it may simply be considered synonymous with macrologia. However, as Puttenham’s term suggests, periergia may differ from simple superfluity in that the language appears over-labored.

We’re trying to make bacon without a pig, paint the house with a flame thrower, and make paper dolls with steak knives on a roller coaster.

Got it?

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

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Period

Posted on March 14, 2014 | Leave a comment

Period: The periodic sentence, characterized by the suspension of the completion of sense until its end. This has been more possible and favored in Greek and Latin, languages already favoring the end position for the verb, but has been approximated in uninflected languages such as English. [This figure may also engender surprise or suspense–consequences of what Kenneth Burke views as ‘appeals’ of information.]

The only thing(s) that matter(s) in life beyond the mundane hum of human existence await(s) our discovery in the rippling multiverse of being-at-once one and many, peering over the prison wall of contradiction, maddened by the parched diamond-bright  presence of everything stretching through time toward nothing-at-all and snapping.

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

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Periphrasis

Posted on March 12, 2014 | Leave a comment

Periphrasis (per-if’-ra-sis): The substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name (a species of circumlocution); or, conversely, the use of a proper name as a shorthand to stand for qualities associated with it. (Circumlocutions are rhetorically useful as euphemisms, as a method of amplification, or to hint at something without stating it.)

I wish Put-in would Pull-out before things get out of hand in Crimea! If there was a clearly focused Camer-on, there would probably be better news from Ukraine.

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

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Personification

Posted on March 9, 2014 | Leave a comment

Personification: Reference to abstractions or inanimate objects as though they had human qualities or abilities. The English term for prosopopeia (pro-so-po-pe’-i-a) or ethopoeia (e-tho-po’-ia): the description and portrayal of a character (natural propensities, manners and affections, etc.).

Jimi Hendrix is telling me “The wind cried Mary.”  I don’t know about that, but I’ve heard the moon burp and say “I’m full.” The moon is impolite.

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

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Polyptoton

Posted on March 7, 2014 | Leave a comment

Polyptoton (po-lyp-to’-ton): Repeating a word, but in a different form. Using a cognate of a given word in close proximity.

I like to like what I like to like. Why? Because liking what I like is likely to make me happy! Just imagine if I didn’t like what I like at the same time as I like it.  That is, one may like something in one sense, but not like it in another.  I’d rather like what I like in every sense! Does that make sense? Or do I look like a fool?

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

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Polysyndeton

Posted on March 6, 2014 | Leave a comment

Polysyndeton (pol-y-syn’-de-ton): Employing many conjunctions between clauses, often slowing the tempo or rhythm. (Asyndeton is the opposite of polysyndeton: an absence of conjunctions.)

We saw the problem clearly, and we made a plan to fix it, and we found a way to capture the resources to enable the plan’s implementation, and we implemented the plan, and after all we said, and all we did, we did have our hope fulfilled, and after 18 years of struggle our lives have returned to normal, and our community, our beautiful community, is restored.

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Procatalepsis

Posted on March 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

Procatalepsis (pro-cat-a-lep’-sis): Refuting anticipated objections.

We say diplomacy and an infusion of a few billion Euro will save the day. A negotiated diplomatic solution to the current crisis is certainly more beneficial in the long run than running across the border waving M-16s and NATO banners. The first shot fired toward the East may be the last shot ever fired by anybody ever, given the nukes aimed at Europe and Putin’s red-hot paranoia.

About the the money: No Euro, no economic recovery, no Ukraine. A few billion is a relatively small price to pay to keep a sovereign democracy on the western frontier of freedom functioning while it regroups and regains its fiscal strength. We trust in Ukraine’s future–a future free from the clutches of border bending criminals and safe in the embrace of the European Union. 

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

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Protherapeia

Posted on March 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

Protherapeia (pro-ther-a-pei’-a): Preparing one’s audience for what one is about to say through conciliating words. If what is to come will be shocking, the figure is called prodiorthosis.

The years have gone by and we have had to say good-bye to so many murdered sisters and brothers chewed up and spit out dead or maimed by seemingly endless war—war without borders, war without shame, war without victory, war, war, war!

The world is engulfed by terror, hatred and horror. We cry for its wretched regions; ceaselessly flooded by the blood of the guiltless flowing deep red through the gates of hell thrown open by raging blasphemy shouting out His holy names.

Together we have stood our ground. Together we have pushed hard the stem the flood. Together.

And yet, as much as we have sacrificed, today it is my sad duty to tell you . . .

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

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Proverb

Posted on March 1, 2014 | Leave a comment

Proverb: One of several terms describing short, pithy sayings. Others include adage, apothegm, gnome, maxim, paroemia, and sententia.

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. (Prov. 22:3 [NIV])

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

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Prozeugma

Posted on February 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

Prozeugma (pro-zoog’-ma): A series of clauses in which the verb employed in the first is elided (and thus implied) in the others.

Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had a palace–ee-yi–ee-yi-oh. With a life-size painted plastic horse here and a golf course there–ee-yi-ee-yi-oh. With pirate ship restaurant here and a big live ostrich there–ee-yi-ee-yi-oh.

Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had a palace–ee-yi–ee-yi-oh. With a helipad here and a rare breed of pig there. A car collection here and some bottles of Viktor Vodka there–ee-yi-ee-yi-oh.

Oh-yi! Oh! Oh! Oh! Where the heck did Yanukovych go?

Vladimir Putin had a hideout–ee-yi-ee-yi-oh. With a Yanukovych there and . . .

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

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Pysma

Posted on February 27, 2014 | Leave a comment

Pysma (pys’-ma): The asking of multiple questions successively (which would together require a complex reply). A rhetorical use of the question.

Our crypto platform has been compromised.  How did we find out about this? Who was involved? Who is to blame? Why did they do it? How did they do it? How has it affected our reputation for honesty, integrity, and openness? What are we going to do moving ahead? These are the questions we intend to address over the coming days.  But today, I can tell you that we . . .

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

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Ratiocinatio

Posted on February 25, 2014 | Leave a comment

Ratiocinatio (ra’-ti-o-cin-a’-ti-o): Reasoning (typically with oneself) by asking questions. Sometimes equivalent to anthypophora. More specifically, ratiocinatio can mean making statements, then asking the reason (ratio) for such an affirmation, then answering oneself. In this latter sense ratiocinatio is closely related to aetiologia. [As a questioning strategy, it is also related to erotima {the general term for a rhetorical question}.]

In Florida, I have a right to stand my ground. You threaten me, I kill you. Under lex talionis, does that tally up? What would Hammurabi say?

Let’s re-taliate the ‘taliation: What’s the fair price to pay for being perceived as a deadly threat?

I won’t back down vs. I can’t back down. Back to the wall? Fire away! Otherwise, run away. Does that tally up?

I give up.

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

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Repotia

Posted on February 24, 2014 | Leave a comment

Repotia (re-po’-ti-a): 1. The repetition of a phrase with slight differences in style, diction, tone, etc. 2. A discourse celebrating a wedding feast.

1. I am your only chance? I, your only chance? Yes! I am your only chance, but only if you take that chance with me!

2. Your wedding is a portrait of endless promise, inexhaustible as love’s invisible warmth. We know your marriage, like your courtship, will bring out the best in both of you, lighting your lives with happiness, hope,  and love.

So, here’s to you, our friends: To your love! To your marriage! To your future! To our joy!

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

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Restrictio

Posted on February 23, 2014 | Leave a comment

Restrictio (re-strik’-ti-o): Making an exception to a previously made statement. Restricting or limiting what has already been said.

You made a good point, but it isn’t good enough to persuade me or anybody else! Here’s why . . .

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

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