From last month’s Washington Post:
“Metro Transit Police say they have a new unit working to deter terrorists from targeting the transit system.”
Deter is from the Latin de (from) + terrere (to frighten), which is also the origin of terrorist.
They used two words in a row that share a common derivation of a Latin root. How [...]
Archive of posts filed under the rhetoric category.
etymological redundancy
figures of speech, part two of ∞
Eunoia is doubly interesting–first, as a curiosity in being the shortest English language word to contain all five vowels, and second, as a figure of speech. From the Greek for “well mind,” it refers to the concept of benevolent goodwill. I read today’s op-ed in the Times about Microsoft, and it made me think that Bill [...]
figures of speech, part one of ∞
Metonymy is when one thing is referred to as another related thing. An example would be referring to the U.S. federal government as the Capitol. (Tangentially related: Synecdoche.)
Prosopopoeia is the personification of inanimate things or non-present people. For example, the flames of the fire danced in the wind.
The two should not be confused.*
* Adapted from [...]