Complex Numbers

Rhetorical

Today, I have an article about writing... sort of.

21 Rhetorical Devices Explained  

Even if you're not interested in writing essays, speeches, or other traditional vehicles for rhetoric, knowing the tools of the trade could be useful. If nothing else, it'll help you spot rhetorical tricks used to manipulate you. Maybe. Personally, I can never remember all the Greek-y words, but at least sometimes I can remember the devices they signify.

Rhetoric is often defined as “the art of language.” That might sound like a bit of a cliché (which it is), but it’s actually quite a nice way of saying that rhetorical devices and figures of speech can transform an ordinary piece of writing or an everyday conversation into something much more memorable, evocative, and enjoyable. Hundreds of different rhetorical techniques and turns of phrase have been identified and described over the centuries—of which the 21 listed here are only a fraction—but they’re all just as effective and just as useful when employed successfully.

I'm not going to hit all of them here. Just some comments.

1. ADYNATON

You’ll no doubt have heard of hyperbole, in which an over-exaggeration is used for rhetorical effect, like, “he’s as old as the hills,” “we died laughing,” or “hyperbole is the best thing ever.” But adynaton is a particular form of hyperbole in which an exaggeration is taken to a ridiculous and literally impossible extreme, like “when pigs fly!” or “when Hell freezes over!”

"When pigs fly" is one of my favorite phrases. I have a collection of winged pigs. Nothing profound about them; I just enjoy the absurdity.

Pretty sure Hell froze over when the Cubs won the World Series, though.

4. ANTHYPOPHORA

You know when you pose a question for dramatic effect and then immediately answer it yourself? That’s anthypophora.

Ha, I see what you did there.

5. ANTIMERIA

If you’ve ever friended or texted someone, emailed or DMed something, tabled a meeting or motorwayed your way across country, then you’ll be familiar with antimeria, a rhetorical device in which an existing word is used as if it were a different part of speech.

Verbing weirds language. -Calvin

9. ASTERISMOS

Right. Okay. Here goes. Asterismos is the use of a seemingly unnecessary word or phrase to introduce what you’re about to say. Semantically it’s fairly pointless to say something like “listen!” before you start talking to someone, because they are (or at least should be) already listening.

Yeah... I do use this one a lot.

17. HYPOCATASTASIS

When you say that something is like something else (“as busy as a bee”), that’s a simile. When you say that something actually is something else (“a heart of stone”) that’s a metaphor. But when you just go all out and label something as something that it actually isn’t (“You chicken!”), that’s a hypocatastasis.

I'm just leaving this one here because now hypocatastasis is my new favorite word. For now.

Anyway, like I said, just informational today. I wanted to have time to do a review. Yesterday I went to the theater and saw a... I don't know if "movie" is the right word. It's not a documentary. Whatever; I saw a film about the band Rush, focused on performances from their 2015 tour, with a few other fun things sprinkled in, and here's the review.

One-Sentence Movie Review: Rush: Cinema Strangiato - The Director's Cut

You can either accept that Rush was unique, and one of the greatest bands of all time, or you can be wrong.

Rating: 4.5/5