A couple of words, new to me: antonomasia and hendiadys. They're both figure-of-speech types. There are many such obscure words, little known by any but high fallutin' grammarians and professional wordsmiths.
Wikipedia
In rhetoric, antonomasia is a kind of metonymy in which an epithet or phrase takes the place of a proper name, such as "the little corporal" for Napoleon I. Conversely, antonomasia can also be using a proper name as an archetypal name, to express a generic idea.
From Wiki's list of examples:
In 2016 we could add "The Donald" or "Agent Orange" or "Hair Hitler" - but one for the ages is yet to be discovered for "You Know Who"
Hendiadys
Wikipedia
Whoa! Two more unknown (to me) words there: catenative and parataxis. A catenative verb is one where it can be followed directly by another verb, as in "he deserves to win the cup" or "you are forbidden to smoke in here". Parataxis = The placing of clauses or phrases one after another, without words to indicate coordination or subordination, as in "Tell me, how are you?"
A nice hot coffee, paratactical or not, is just what I fancy after that little lot!
Wikipedia
In rhetoric, antonomasia is a kind of metonymy in which an epithet or phrase takes the place of a proper name, such as "the little corporal" for Napoleon I. Conversely, antonomasia can also be using a proper name as an archetypal name, to express a generic idea.
From Wiki's list of examples:
"Old Blue Eyes" or "The Chairman of the Board" for Frank Sinatra
"The Bard" for William Shakespeare
"The Gipper" or "The Great Communicator" for Ronald Reagan
"The Iron Lady" or the "The Leaderene" for Margaret Thatcher.
In 2016 we could add "The Donald" or "Agent Orange" or "Hair Hitler" - but one for the ages is yet to be discovered for "You Know Who"
Hendiadys
Wikipedia
A figure of speech used for emphasis. The basic idea is to use two words linked by the conjunction "and" instead of the one modifying the other.
The typical result of a hendiadys is to transform a noun-plus-adjective into two nouns joined by a conjunction. For example, sound and fury (from act V, scene 5 of Macbeth) seems to offer a more striking image than furious sound........hendiadys is most effective in English when the adjectival and nominal forms of the word are identical. Thus "the cold wind went down the hall" becomes the cold and the wind went down the hall. He came despite the rain and weather instead of "He came despite the rainy weather".
Two verbs (as in the case of a catenative verb) can be so joined: come and get it (also come get it) and Fowler says that try and... for "try to..." is a "true example" of hendiadys.
The conjunction may be elided, i.e. omitted (a sound or syllable) when speaking (parataxis): This coffee is nice and hot can become This is nice hot coffee; in both cases one is saying that the coffee is hot to a nice degree, not that the coffee itself is nice.
Whoa! Two more unknown (to me) words there: catenative and parataxis. A catenative verb is one where it can be followed directly by another verb, as in "he deserves to win the cup" or "you are forbidden to smoke in here". Parataxis = The placing of clauses or phrases one after another, without words to indicate coordination or subordination, as in "Tell me, how are you?"
A nice hot coffee, paratactical or not, is just what I fancy after that little lot!
6 comments:
I enjoy learning new words, particularly those that are succinct and efficient expressions.
Mamihlapinatapai was a new one for me. Another foreign language word making its way into English usage. Two people gazing at each other, with unspoken understanding. Looking-up the definition, I was introduced to the "volunteer's dilemma"...the first person to take action, making a sacrifice in doing so, and benefiting the group. Mamihlapinatapai is a synonym for "volunteer's dilemma".
You may be familiar with tartle, a Scottish word for the uneasiness prior to admitting a forgotten name during an introduction. The definition led to onomatopoeic, a word that is descriptive by imitation of the sound.
Now, if I could only remember-retain the words I look-up when I meet them again! Perhaps there was something to the old-school method of using a hard-copy dictionary for word definitions. Almost all of my reading is on the internet nowadays, so I highlight, right-click, search for the definition. I suspect my age and attention span is more the culprit...LOL.
mike ~ Dunno about volunteer's dilemma, that word would be a news reader's dilemma to pronounce if ever it became newsworthy!
Haven't ever come across "tartle". I do know onomatopoea though - from school days - I even recall (roughly) the example we were taught: "the murmuring of innumerable elms".
Yes, online dictionaries are very handy, even so, I still keep a couple of small "Gem" dictionaries on the shelf under my desktop: Collins English Gem Dictionary and Collins Dictionary of Spelling and Word Division - had 'em since work days, often use them still, rather than fingering my way to an online helper.
The words verify, audit, and recount may have additional nuance. Michigan's election authorities were aggrieved by Jill Stein's paid recount request, stating that Michigan had verified their election results, therefore no need for a recount. Well, it's always wise to perform a thorough, high quality audit:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/05/us-election-recount-michigan-donald-trump-hillary-clinton
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/05/recount-unrecountable
/95007392/
There were widespread reports of voting machine problems across the nation. I wonder how many of those were deemed perfectly fine by each state's officials?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/11/08/broken-voting-machines-election-2016-not-rigged-or-russian-hackers/#3d7d8c548706
mike (again) ~ A few years, or decades hence, when a teacher recounts the tangled tale of the 2016 re-counts to his students.....
LOL - the reason I've made myself use re-count instead of recount. :-)
Lots of looking backward before going forward stuff going on both sides of the Pond. Attempts, in an oblique way, to undo or dilute somewhat what has already been done. The re-counts and their pitfalls on this side of the Pond, and in the UK their Supreme Court is currently hearing a case to decide whether the government needs parliament's vote on issues arising from the Brexit referendum.
Is there an astrological indication of this - any retrogrades at present? I can see only Mercury going backward, but not until later this month.
I hadn't considered recount vs re-count, but I see your implication.
Regarding the Michigan re-count, it has only a slim chance of altering this election. I was dismayed that Michigan's rules doesn't allow for an audit result that isn't in agreement with the first, certified result...the audit results are discarded! Each state's election results are certified, but minimal thought and intellect is provided from a quality assurance aspect. It's simple number counting, so what can go wrong? How do we all know we can trust these results? This is a festering problem that isn't being adequately addressed. Far easier for Michigan to keep eyes wide shut.
I've been following all of the convolutions of, and challenges to Brexit. Quite a mess! We have six weeks until Trump's Inauguration Day...it will be interesting to see if we go the way of Brexit with Trump. Electoral votes will be taken December 19th and we have one TX elector that is going faithless. Will more crawl out (I wouldn't announce my plans, if I were an elector...LOL).
The astrology? The usual suspects: Uranus-Pluto square that has plagued us for the past several years and will be within 3* next month. The Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune T-square. Jupiter currently forming opposition with Uranus and square Pluto, which will continue through most of next year.
We do have Saturn trine Uranus, which will be ongoing through 2017. I would normally assume this to be a positive, but there may be turbulence prior to the realization of benefit.
An additional hypothesis for the zaniness of our era is the 1989 to 1999, within orb of conjunction, Uranus-Neptune in Capricorn, with the actual conjunction occurring in 1993 at 18-19* Capricorn. The two planets danced very closely all the way through Capricorn. Transiting Uranus has been in waxing square to this synodic point the last two years and will be out of orb by next summer. Add transiting Pluto's square to the waxing Uranus square of the synode, with Pluto just hitting the 18-19* Capricorn point, translating the Uranus-Neptune synode.
Also, John Townley's proposal that the extant present is constantly shaped and pulled forward by the future. Astrology of the future influences today. We are heading toward 2020's Jupiter-Saturn synode at 0*29' Aquarius (December 21, 2020), which occurs after Pluto's synodes to both planets in late degrees of Capricorn, earlier in 2020. Saturn's last synode with Pluto was November, 1982. Three synodes occur within months during 2020...a shape-shifter.
Early 2021, with Uranus in the first decan of Taurus, both Jupiter and Saturn will be squaring from Aquarius. Saturn square Uranus continues for a year into 2022.
"It's always something - if it's not one thing, it's another." Roseanne Roseannadanna (Gilda Radner)
mike (again) ~ It's looking as though the re-counts effort will not change much; not as sure about the Electoral College thing on 19 December. As you said, the voters are likely to keep their intentions to themselves. Could be an upset in the offing.
Yes, thanks for the astrology, must just be more of the same regarding Trump and Brexit, and attempted re-dos. Also that strange, but inevitable pull towards the future and its own astrology.
It's enough to get the head spinning. Best to just roll with the flow. :-)
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