No wonder we suddenly feel the need to focus on the scientific and mystical significance of wind patterns, magma, and dust.
Anne Applebaum in Slate
Merism (MER-ism), the 24-7 figure.
That volcano in Iceland could keep spewing filth and hot gases for some time to come. Eyjafjallajokull (Figaro pronounces it “Glenn Beck”) could attack Europe’s whole political economy.
The Poulet Petit scenario earns a dramatic merism, a figure that describes a whole by summing up its parts. “I worked 24-7 on that proposal.” “He talked from dawn till dusk.”
Applebaum could simply have focused on “the scientific and mystical significance of volcanoes.” Instead, she gives us the whole sturm und drang.
Figaro loves the whole rhetorical lock, stock and crater.