Channeling MLK

Quote: “In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone.”  Barack Obama

Figure of Speech: symploce (SIM-plo-see), the first and last repeat. From the Greek, meaning “interweaving.”

After Hillary Clinton made the mistake of saying it took a president to push through civil rights legislation, Barack Obama has been channeling MLK as much as he can. The effort is paying off: Obama snagged nearly all the black vote in the Nevada caucuses.

Yesterday he gave a Kingly sermon at MLK’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. The speech occasionally slipped into wonkish arrhythmia, with clunky phrases like “empathy deficit.” But Obama got the crowd amen-ing when he picked up the figures that MLK used. One of the best is the symploce, which repeats the beginning and end of successive phrases, clauses or sentences.

Obama uses this rhythmic figure toward the end of his oration. Cicero would approve. Save the pathos for the end, he said.

Hillary must wish she can keep the beat as well as her opponent — or her husband.

Snappy Answer:  “In the struggle to end this speech, we…what were you saying?”

Go Figure

Quote: “The Fit is Go!” Ad campaign for Honda, submitted by Figarist Brandon Smith in Ask Figaro. 

 Figure of Speech: metallage (meh-TALL-uh-gee), the getting all medieval figure.  From the Greek, meaning “making a swap.”

Honda’s new itty-bitty car uses itty-bitty words for its slogan. That, we’re sure, is deliberate. But Brandon wonders why the “go”? Is the ad agency attempting a self-loathing Asian version of Fahrfignugen? Or, on the contrary, is it employing a patriotic NASAism, as in”The system is go” or “We’re go to launch”?

 Either way, we’re go for a metallage. The figure takes a part of speech that isn’t a noun — such as a verb or adjective — and uses it as the object of a sentence.  You can see a great instance of the figure in the film Pulp Fiction, where Samuel Jackson threatens “to get all medieval on your ass.” And President Bush deployed a metallage when he accused Democrats of being “the party of cut and run.”

 Figaro usually loves the figure, because it injects novelty into our hoary language. But using it on a cute car strikes us as a tad too precious metallage.

Snappy Answer: “The campaign should be stop.”

Human Sacrifice, Dogs and Cats Living Together!

Quote: “I’m here to tell you, if either of these two guys get the nomination, it’s going to destroy the Republican Party, it’s going to change it forever, be the end of it.” Rush Limbaugh, referring to John McCain and Mike Huckabee.

Figure of Speech: oraculum (or-AH-cu-lum), the prophetic figure. From the Latin, meaning “oracle.” Also ominatio (om-in-AH-tio), the warning.

When someone says he’s here to tell you, be prepared for a healthy dose of hyperbole. The expression implies that God has placed him among mortals to serve as Holy Mouthpiece. Hence the term oraculum, or oracle, a voice of godly advice or prediction.

Used sparingly, the oraculum provides a rhetorical drum roll, making the audience sit up and listen to what you’re about to say. “I have no other purpose on earth,” the oraculum says, disinterestedly,  “but to tell you that the end of the Republican Party is nigh.”

Figaro doesn’t know how nigh it really is, but the GOP’s destruction would gladden his heart. As would the demise of the Democrats. It’s your party, Huck. Cry if you want to, Hill. But Figaro prefers his politics to be stranger than faction.

Snappy Answer:  “Go McAbee!”

When Do We Want It? Never!

From Ask Figaro:

Dear Figaro,

As an academic rhetorician—the type of guy who calls demonstrative rhetoric what it is, epideictic rhetoric—I am increasingly, year by year, aggravated by various public figures engaging in excessive hypophora. Whether it’s a political figure or a coach in college sports, people overuse rhetorical questions. The rhetorical question followed by the quick answer seems rhetorically schizophrenic to me since people use it so much.

Any thoughts on why rhetorical questions are being overused?

Quintilian B. Nasty

Dear Quint,

You’re right that the hypophora (hy-PAH-phor-a)— the figure that asks a rhetorical question and then answers it — is getting a workout these days.  You know why that is? I’ll tell you why that is. Our society has become increasingly demonstrative, as your question implies. (“What do we want? Groupthink! When do we want it? Now!”)

In a demonstrative society, deliberation goes out the figurative window. Any opinion or fact that’s contrary to the received wisdom smacks of disloyalty. And what’s the best way to deliver received wisdom? By immediate answers to rhetorical questions.

Demonstrative rhetoric — or epideictic, as you Greek-talking Romans insist on calling it — brings the tribe together through talk of shared values. It can inspire patriotism and self-sacrifice, but too much of it results in  tribalism.  And tribalism is democracy’s kryptonite.

The American founders knew that tribalism inevitably leads to dictatorship. It was the one thing they feared the most. And who is Figaro to argue?

Nobody, that’s who.

Fig.

Trust the (Armed) Force

Quote: “An economy in peril. A country at war. A future uncertain.” TV commercial for Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.

Figure of Speech: anastrophe (an-ASS-tro-phee), the Yoda figure. From the Greek, meaning “a turning back.” Also asyndeton (a-SIN-de-ton), the conjunction skipper.

The anastrophe Yodafizes sentences by switching words around to make them sound good.  (In trouble the country is! )  It can be one of the most poetic figures, as well as the most bizarre. In the case of the Giuliani ad, it’s poetically bizarre — or bizarrely poetic.

The writers painted themselves into a syntactical corner with a series of incomplete sentences, requiring absolute symmetry: A subject ( economy) in object (peril). A subject (country) at object (war). A subject (future)…hey, how did an adjective like “uncertain” get in there? To fix the problem, the ad people changed”uncertain future” to “future uncertain” to make the adjective sound like the object of a preposition.

Yeah, it still seems awkward, but maybe that’s the point. The shaky syntax sounds uncertain. Like the future. Uneasy it makes us. Vote for Giuliani we must.

Snappy Answer:  “Please. Shut. Up.”

Bless You

Quote: “Like McCain, he is allergic to the kind of demagoguery spewed by a John Edwards or a Mitt Romney.” Jacob Weisberg in Slate

Figure of Speech: antonomasia (an-to-no-MAY-sia), the namer. From the Greek, meaning “substitute name.”

The nation’s first primary is taking place in Figaro’s beloved vote- free- or- die state. We ornery New Hampshirites don’t usually like to follow the example of Iowans, who anointed Huckaby and Obama in their wildly complicated caucuses. But this time might be different. New Hampshire was leaning heavily toward Clinton before Obama showed her up in Iowa. Now those fickle Democrats are leaving Hillary at the altar. McCain didn’t finish first in Iowa, but he did way better than the pundits expected. Expect the two to finish first in NH.

One of those pundits, Jake Weisberg, points out that the McBama phenomenon stems in part by both candidates’ bipartisanship (or, in McCain’s contrarian case, nonpartisanship). Weinberg contrasts the two with the more craven, left- and right-field Edwards and Romney.

Note, though, that the writer refers not to the men themselves but to “a John Edwards” and “a Mitt Romney.” The result is an antonomasia, a figure that makes a descriptive phrase stand for a person or a proper noun stand for a description. Lloyd Bentsen slung the most famous political antonomasia against rival Dan Quayle during the vice presidential debate in 1988. After Quayle compared his youth with that of John F. Kennedy, Bentsen replied, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

Bentsen and Weinberg were after the same effect: to create the image of a type of politician, not just the politician himself. Figaro strongly suggests you use it next time you want to make a rival feel inadequate.

Snappy Answer: “If you need to spew, spew in this.”

Update on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at 04:02PM by Figaro

Well, even Figaro isn’t perfect.  At virtually the last minute, Hillary teared up, thus proving she’s actually a member of our species. She beat Obama by a slim margin of 8,000 voters and triggered a barrage of overinterpretive punditry.  One thing’s for sure:  this race remains very horsey.

Fig.