About This Site

Figaro rips the innards out of things people say and reveals the rhetorical tricks and pratfalls. For terms and definitions, click here.
(What are figures of speech?)
Ask Figaro a question!

This form does not yet contain any fields.

    « Mr. Crowe, Step Away From the Telephone | Main | And Which Beatle Is Closest to Your Judicial Philosophy? »
    Wednesday
    Sep142005

    "Now Go Away or I Will Taunt You a Second Time."

    monty.jpgQuote:   "I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper.  I fart in your general direction." French solder in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

    Figure of Speech:  mycterismus (mick terr IZ muss), the sneer

    A mycterismus (from the Greek "to sneer") mocks someone through voice and gesture.  When one breaks wind rhetorically, it counts as a gesture, and maybe even a voice.

    These days a mycterismus means yelling a profanity while redundantly flipping the bird.  The French soldier played by John Cleese in the Monty Python movie makes a more atmospheric gesture.

    Snappy Answer:   "That's the smartest thing out of you yet."

    PrintView Printer Friendly Version

    EmailEmail Article to Friend

    Reader Comments (3)

    i prefer "your mother was a hamster"
    September 26, 2005 | Unregistered CommenterDorothy
    Ah, yes, thank you, Dorothy. Combined with the outrrrrrageous French accent, his further insult constitutes a cacemphaton--a figure of ill-sounding words.
    September 27, 2005 | Registered CommenterFigaro
    Your mother was a hampster, and you father smelt of elderberries!
    September 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSatpin2

    PostPost a New Comment

    Enter your information below to add a new comment.

    My response is on my own website »
    Author Email (optional):
    Author URL (optional):
    Post:
     
    All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.