The Early Bird Catches the Flu

Quote:  "Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead." James Thurber.

Figure of Speech:  polysyndeton (polly SIN deh ton), the conjunction connector.

The polysyndeton (Greek for "many connections") throws a conjunction between successive phrases or clauses -- healthy and wealthy and dead.

It's a favorite figure among little kids:  "And then Sarah threw the truck and Billy, and he threw it back, and she jumped on him, and then we had story time."

Snappy Answer:  "I'd like to be his poor relative.  A million inherited is a million earned."

Comments

[Shan]

I explained this figure of speech to my students the other day just as you have with your example. They didn't find it as amusing as I did.

[Figaro]

Philistines. But would students ever find something "amusing"?--Fig.