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Figaro rips the innards out of things people say and reveals the rhetorical tricks and pratfalls. For terms and definitions, click here.
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    Monday
    Feb212011

    "Do that thing where you fart through your head!"

    Forgive us, patient Figarists, for we have gone astray. We just turned in the final, edited manuscript to our next book, Word Hero: Mark Twain, Warren Buffett, and Mr. Potatohead Help You Master the Art of Expression. In the race to the deadline, we ignored you, and we’re sorry.

    To soothe your feelings, we offer a bit of anthropomorphism, the trope of personification. It doesn’t get enough respect in the figurative world, and yet it’s the stuff of gods. After all, what do you get when you take a metonymy—a trope that makes a characteristic of something stand for the whole thing—and mate it with personification? A god! That’s how the ancients came up with gods of drunkenness, lust, and even rhetoric. 

    But enough serious rhetoric. Now for dolphin fart jokes, zebras suffering from paronomasia, and a gorilla executing a neat metallage.

     

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    Reader Comments (6)

    Hey Fig, the image in this post doesn't display in my browser. Is it my firewall?
    February 24, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterContent
    Make sure your Flash is up to date: it's a video.
    February 24, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterFigaro
    Congratulations on finishing the new book! When can we expect to see it hit Amazon.com and the shelves our favorite bookstores?
    February 24, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterPeter Feddo
    I guess I'll just have to check it out at home instead of surfin' the net at the office...
    February 25, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterContent
    The book comes out in October, Peter. Rest assured that I'll keep you posted!
    February 25, 2011 | Registered CommenterFigaro
    Thanks, I'm going to have nightmares tonight. xzwkxw xzwkxw - <a href="http://www.louboutinschaussures.fr">louboutin schaussures</a>.
    October 16, 2011 | Unregistered Commentersnihgb snihgb

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