"Now Go Away or I Will Taunt You a Second Time."
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 at 08:45AM
Figaro

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."

Article originally appeared on Figures of Speech (http://inpraiseofargument.com/).
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