Tax Pair

Quote:  “Sneak-a-tax.”  Figaro, putting words in the bereft mouths of the Democrats.

Figaro of Speech:  antanaclasis (an-tan-AC-la-sis), the pun.

Figaro has received many emails about his previous entry on the antanaclasis, which repeats a term with a different meaning. The figure also applies to the homonymic pun — a play on identical-sounding words. Figaro’s all-time favorite billboard advertised a Boston restaurant called Dante’s Inferno. Its antanataclasical slogan: “Children Served.”

The Dems should deploy the figure to puncture the GOP’s reputation for low taxes.  “Now, do you really think the Republicans are saving you money?” the Dems should ask rhetorically. “Of course not! They’re diverting your money to their own buddies — with the covert strategy of sneak-a-tax.”  Label the fees for parking in national parks and forests as a sneak-a-tax. The tanking dollar? Another sneak-a-tax in the form of costly Chinese toys. Then there’s the burgeoning deficit, which could qualify as the greatest sneak-a-tax of all time.

Figaro’s Democratic kibitzing should not be seen as a party endorsement, by the way.  He’s an independent who believes that the two-party “system” stinks. Still, we can’t help but root for the rhetorical underdog. The Republicans continue to talk circles around the Dems.  Why, Mitt Romney even manages to talk circles around himself.

Snappy Answer:  “That’s the Democrats for you: the party of tax-and-spin.”

Forecast of Comfort and Joy

Quote:  “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given… ” Isaiah 9:6, King James Bible.

Figure of Speech:  prophetic perfect, the it’s- as- good- as- done figure.

In baseball, it’s called “selling the call.”  Much of an umpire’s authority comes from his appearance of absolute certainty as he sweeps his arm, jerks his thumb, and yells steeeeerrrike!

In the prophet line, it’s the prophetic perfect — using the past or present perfect tense to lend credibility to a prediction.  “My prophecy is so real,” the figure implies, “it’s as good as done.” That’s how the prophet Isaiah could announce the birth of the Messiah at least seven centuries early (assuming, as Christians do, that the Messiah has shown up already).

“Is done” and “is given” are in the present perfect tense. But Hebrew scholars say that the past perfect — “has been born,” “has been given” — come closer to the original.

Either way, it’s perfect.

Snappy Answer:  “And his name has been called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Update on Friday, December 21, 2007 at 01:34PM by Figaro

As you might have surmised, Figaro writes this thing in great haste, when he’s supposed to be doing useful things.  This is his excuse for calling “has been” the past perfect. Of course, “is born” and “has been born” are exactly the same tense: present perfect.

Which Figaro, presently, isn’t.

Fig. 

Putin In the Rough

Quote:  “Putin joke: Putin goes to a restaurant with [his chosen successor] Medvedev and orders a steak. The waiter asks, ‘And what about the vegetable?’ Putin answers, ‘The vegetable will have steak too.’” Adi Ignatius, in Time’s cover story.

Figure of Speech:   antanaclasis (an-ta-NA-cla-sis), the boomerang figure. From the Greek, meaning  “rebound.”

Time just named Russian strongman Vladimir Putin its Person of the Year.   In the must-read story dyslexically titled A Tsar Is Born, correspondent Adi Ignatius covers Putin’s plan to remain in power for — well, forever, maybe.  Forbidden by the Constitution from running for a third four-year term, Putin (Figaro affectionately calls him “Vlad the Impaler”) has named a loyal functionary, Dimitri Medvedev, as Head Puppet. 

Hence today’s anataclasis, a figure that repeats a word with a different meaning.  (“You said you wanted to be president in the worst way, Mr. Bush? Well, you were. In the worst way.”) 

Russians express their zeitgeist through jokes, and this one is a classic, tying up an issue in one cynical package: take-charge leader, controlling the dialogue. Spineless sidekick. And what would Putin possibly eat but steak?

We’re pretty sure he eats it raw.

Snappy Answer:  “He does look steamed.” 

Plus He Stopped Beating His Wife

Ooh, it’s getting nasty! From Ask Figaro:

Quote: “It’s probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim. There’s a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal.”

Dog whistle politics?  Bringing up a “bad” fact and saying it’s good?  What is the real deal?

Arthur

Dear Arthur,

It’s a form of innuendo, Latin for “make a significant nod.” The classic campaign innuendo makes a vicious accusation against an opponent by denying it. Richard Nixon did it when he ran for governor against Pat Brown in 1962. He repeatedly denied that Brown was a communist, which of course raised the previously moot issue of whether Brown actually was a communist.Brown denied it, too, but his denials just repeated Nixon’s innuendo.

This time, it’s not the Republicans doing the sleaze. It’s Democrats. Former Senator Bob Kerrey, campaigning for Hillary, said it.

What can Obama do? Redefine the sleazebag’s quote: “Even Senator Kerrey, who’s for Hillary, thinks I have more international experience.”

Then let’s see ol’ Bob wriggle out of that one.

Fig.

Update on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 11:42AM by Figaro

“I’ve watched the blogs try to say that you can’t trust [Obama] because he spent a little bit of time in a secular madrassa,” Kerrey  said on the Situation Room with John King. “I feel quite opposite. I think it’s a tremendous strength whether he’s in the United States Senate or whether he’s in the White House.”

Beware the Dirimens Room

Quote:  “The danger is not just bio-terror but bio-error.” Washington Post.

Figure of Speech:  dirimens copulatio (deera-mens cop-u-LAT-io), the but-wait-there’s-more figure. From the Greek, meaning “an interrupted joining.”

 Thanks to Dave Cantrell for sending this in to Ask Figaro. The Post story describes DNA research that promises—or threatens—to create synthetic lifeforms for use in everything from fuel additives to medicines. An opposing group, calling for a virtual ban against releasing these made-to-order organisms, crafts a sexy little dirimens copulatio.  The figure adds a bonus point to an already-strong argument: “Afraid of terrorism?” it says.  “Well, that’s not the only problem here.”

By making its D. copulatio rhyme, the watchdog group makes error sound like an inevitable add-on to terror. Synthetic additive, indeed.

Snappy Answer:  “What about bio-Luddites?” 

Much-Tell Hotel

The writers among us should appreciate this Q&A from Ask Figaro: 

Dear Figaro,

Does the following sentence employ an incremental epistrophe?  

In New York City, especially in Greenwich Village, down among the cranks and the misfits and the one-lungers and the has-beens and the might’ve-beens and the would-bes and the never-wills and the God-knows-whats, I have always felt at home. (Joseph Mitchell, Up in the Old Hotel,  “Joe Gould”s Secret”)

Martin and Leia

Dear M&L,

Ah, Joe Mitchell, the greatest writer journalism ever produced (yeah, that includes, you, Mr. Hemingway).  Your collection of Mitchell’s New Yorker non-fiction mixes the hard-boiled with the lyrical like no other literature.

The quotation qualifies as a polysyndeton, a figure that connects parts of a sentence with a repeated conjunction (“This AND this AND this…”). Mitchell uses it to make his list seem longer, and to bracket each item. It’s a subtle way of boldfacing each point.

But that’s not all. He embeds his glorious polysyndeton, performing another figure called the parenthesis. (And you know what a parenthesis is.) Mitchell’s parenthetical tour de force gives the impression of a man who strays from the beaten path, both literally and syntactically.

These two figures combine to give the impression of an inspired wanderer. Which is what he was.

Fig.