Quote:
"Who knew so many pimps were wannabe bluehairs?" -- John
"Who knew so many bluehairs were wannabe pimps?" -- Jeanne
Nominating the Chrysler 300 as "ugliest car" on the 'Car Talk' website.
Figure of Speech: synecdoche (sin ECK dokee), the scale-changing figure.
"Bluehairs" refers to old ladies, not strangely dyed hairs, right? That's what makes "bluehairs" a synecdoche ("taking one thing with another") -- a word that swaps a part for the whole or vice versa. The word on the street is a synecdoche. (Two of 'em, actually: "word" and "street.")
The figure also swaps a genus for a species, or a species for a genus. If you're old enough to have heard Helen Redding sing her delicately understated "I am Woman, hear me roar," you experienced a synecdoche.
Snappy Answer: "Who knew 'Car Talk' listeners could tell what a pimp was?"