Figures of speech
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Figures of speech
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[edit] Figures of speech
- ACT CUTE Lor! <proud>behaving in an exaggeratedly cute or adorable fashion
- AH TONG AH SENG Equivalent to the English phrase "Tom, Dick and Harry". Possibly of Cantonese origin. "Every Ah Tong Ah Seng also got handphone today."
- AGAK-AGAK (malay slang) for to estimate, or be fair
- ANG MOR NANG|AngMoh Hokkien for 'red-hair'. A pejorative term used to describe Caucasians See also: Mat Salleh
Be cool...R u gay? straight or moronic? Let's go for a piss Up? are all figures of speech. A figure of speech, sometimes termed a rhetorical figure or device, or elocution, is a word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. Figures of speech are often used and crafted for emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use.
Note that not all theories of meaning necessarily have a concept of "literal language" (see literal and figurative language). Under theories that do not, figure of speech is not an entirely coherent concept
- A old standard and pioneer in this field include E.L.Bullinger see[[1]]
Various classification used include :Figures by Type with Link Definition
- Tropes figures which change the typical meaning of a word or words
- Metaplasmic Figures figures which move the letters or syllables of a word from their typical places
- Figures of Omission figures which omit something--eg. a word, words, phrases, or clauses--from a sentence
- Figures of Repetition (words) figures which repeat one or more words
- Figures of Repetition (clauses and ideas) figures which repeat a phrase, a clause or an idea
- Figures of Unusual Word Order figures which alter the ordinary order of words or sentences
- Figures of Thought a miscellaneous group of figures which deal with emotional appeals and techniques of argument
- In the case of articles related to the gay movement and their lifestyles, various slangs and sub-culture usage the English language are considered as corruption see Turd pool language using words with explicit sexual connotations which has not come to be accepted in most of the dominant cultures. For instant common people won't use piss up for having a drink but that is a single instant! Most Christian homes do not allow such slang to be used in their talk!
Moronic is a figure of speech, goto see [[2]] Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
Example: Fairie Queen Spenser; Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan; Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Metaphor comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as as in a simile.
Example: He is a pig. Thou art sunshine.
Poetry is, first of all, a communication - a thought or message conveyed by the writer to the reader. It is not only an act of creation, but an act of sharing. It is therefore important to the reader that he understands how the poet uses words, how he puts fresh vigor and new meaning into words. The reader's understanding is immeasurably increased if he is familiar with the many techniques or devices of poetry. Some of these are extremely simple; a few are rather elaborate.
The simplest and also the most effective poetic device is the use of comparison. It might almost be said that poetry is founded on two main means of comparing things: simile and metaphor. We heighten our ordinary speech by the continual use of such comparisons as "fresh as a daisy," "tough as leather," "comfortable as an old shoe," "it fits like the Paper on the wall," "gay as a lark," "happy as the day is long, pretty as a picture." These are all recognizable similes; they use the words "as" or "like."
[edit] Examples of
A metaphor is another kind of comparison. It is actually a condensed simile, for it omits "as" or "like." A metaphor establishes a relationship at once; it leaves more to the imagination. It is a shortcut to the meaning; it sets two unlike things side by side and makes us see the likeness between them. When Robert Burns wrote "My love is like a red, red rose" he used a simile. When Robert Herrick wrote "You are a tulip" he used a metaphor. Emily Dickinson used comparison with great originality. She mixed similes and metaphors superbly in such poems as "A Book," "Indian Summer," and "A Cemetery." One of the Poems in her group ("A Book") illustrates another device -Of poetry: association - a connection of ideas. The first two lines of "A Book" compare poetry to a ship; the next two to a horse. But Emily Dickinson thought that the words "ship" and "horse" were too commonplace. The ship became a "frigate," a beautiful full-sailed vessel of romance; and the everyday "horse," the plodding beast of the field and puller of wagons, became instead a "courser," a swift and spirited steed, an adventurous creature whose hoofs beat out a brisk rhythm, "prancing" - like a page of inspired poetry.
Thus, because of comparison and association, familiar objects become strange and glamorous. It might be said that a Poet is a man who sees resemblances in all things.
Simile is the comparison of two unlike things using like or as. Related to metaphor
Example: He eats like a pig. Vines like golden prisons.
Poetry is, first of all, a communication - a thought or message conveyed by the writer to the reader. It is not only an act of creation, but an act of sharing. It is therefore important to the reader that he understands how the poet uses words, how he puts fresh vigor and new meaning into words. The reader's understanding is immeasurably increased if he is familiar with the many techniques or devices of poetry. Some of these are extremely simple; a few are rather elaborate.
The simplest and also the most effective poetic device is the use of comparison. It might almost be said that poetry is founded on two main means of comparing things: simile and metaphor. We heighten our ordinary speech by the continual use of such comparisons as "fresh as a daisy," "tough as leather," "comfortable as an old shoe," "it fits like the Paper on the wall," "gay as a lark," "happy as the day is long, pretty as a picture." These are all recognizable similes; they use the words "as" or "like."
A metaphor is another kind of comparison. It is actually a condensed simile, for it omits "as" or "like." A metaphor establishes a relationship at once; it leaves more to the imagination. It is a shortcut to the meaning; it sets two unlike things side by side and makes us see the likeness between them. When Robert Burns wrote "My love is like a red, red rose" he used a simile. When Robert Herrick wrote "You are a tulip" he used a metaphor. Emily Dickinson used comparison with great originality. She mixed similes and metaphors superbly in such poems as "A Book," "Indian Summer," and "A Cemetery." One of the Poems in her group ("A Book") illustrates another device -Of poetry: association - a connection of ideas. The first two lines of "A Book" compare poetry to a ship; the next two to a horse. But Emily Dickinson thought that the words "ship" and "horse" were too commonplace. The ship became a "frigate," a beautiful full-sailed vessel of romance; and the everyday "horse," the plodding beast of the field and puller of wagons, became instead a "courser," a swift and spirited steed, an adventurous creature whose hoofs beat out a brisk rhythm, "prancing" - like a page of inspired poetry.
Thus, because of comparison and association, familiar objects become strange and glamorous. It might be said that a Poet is a man who sees resemblances in all things.
anastrophe a.nas.tro.phe n. Inversion of the normal syntactic order of words, for example: To market went she.[Gk. anastrophe Example: Woolf, Virgina, Works of Virginia Woolf: The Lighthouse., Monarch Notes, 01-01-1963. "Mrs. Woolf also makes use of other figures of speech such as anastrophe (the deliberate inversion of word order)..."
Analogy is the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. The key is to ascertain the relationship between the first so you can choose the correct second pair. Part to whole, opposites, results of are types of relationships you should find.
Example: hot is to cold as fire is to ice OR hot:cold::fire:ice
Oxymoron is putting two contradictory words together.
Oxymoron.info
Examples: hot ice, cold fire, wise fool, sad joy, military intelligence, eloquent silence,
[edit] A class by itself: oxymoron
received via email: Top 52 Oxymorons:
- 52. Homosexuality
- 51. Jumbo Shrimp
- 50. Act naturally
- 49. Found missing
- 48. Resident alien
- 47. Advanced BASIC
- 46. Genuine imitation
- 45. Airline Food
- 44. Good grief
- 43. Same difference
- 42. Almost exactly
- 41. Government organization
- 40. Sanitary landfill
- 39. Alone together
- 38. Legally drunk
- 37. Silent scream
- 36. British fashion
- 35. Living dead
- 34. Small crowd
- 33. Business ethics
- 32. Soft rock
- 31. Butt Head
- 30. Military Intelligence
- 29. Software documentation
- 28. New York culture
- 27. New classic
- 26. Sweet sorrow
- 25. Childproof
- 24. "Now, then ..."
- 23. Synthetic natural gas
- 22. Christian Scientists
- 21. Passive aggression
- 20. Taped live
- 19. Clearly misunderstood
- 18. Peace force
- 17. Extinct Life
- 16. Temporary tax increase
- 15. Computer jock
- 14. Plastic glasses
- 13. Terribly pleased
- 12. Computer security
- 11. Political science
- 10. Tight slacks
- 9. Definite maybe
- 8. Pretty ugly
- 7. Twelve-ounce pound cake
- 6. Diet ice cream
- 5. Rap music
- 4. Working vacation
- 3. Exact estimate
- 2. Religious tolerance
- 1. Microsoft Works
[edit] Irony
Irony is an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. Three kinds of irony:
- 1. verbal irony is when an author says one thing and means something else.
- 2. dramatic irony is when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know.
- 3. irony of situation is a discrepency between the expected result and actual results.
Example: "A fine thing indeed!" he muttered to himself.
*** adopted from Richard Cory
Irony central
Position Paper: Richard Rorty's "Private irony and liberal hope"
Salon on Irony
FRANZ KAFKA: The Irony of Laughter by Mark A. Seaver
Irony and Ignorance
More on irony
HOW DID A LITERARY DEVICE BECOME A PUBLIC ENEMY? Irony Scare by Benjamin Anastas
Stories with irony
[edit] Language and Life
***Language is a living ability whether spoken or written or prefigured in silent acting<silent movies in the early1900s > It is just like the expansion and cultivation of the mind. A lot of communicated codes are making use by means of figure of speech not just in the English language but in many cultures for instances many of the cultures mores and norms which had been accepted and used in cultural expression among different people of many prevailing culture. The Chinese had over 5,000 years of development of their culture especially if fixed expression as in the written script or the ever growing number of dialects used in the among the spoken vernacular of the people. I have attempted to show there are many figures of speech used here, with some samples that are by no means exhaustive. Most are mirrored from this website [[3]] 165.21.154.114 03:54, 27 Sep 2005 (SGT)
[edit] Insider Links
Free Speech < Figures of speech The following pages link to here:
- Hokkien
- Off-the-cuff
- Bollocks
- Allegory
- Cagey
- Squeaky
- Turd pool language
- Category:Figures of speech
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