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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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    Weigh Things Side by Side


    Dilemmas, comparisons and contrasts.


    The first person on record to say "There are two sides to everything" was Protagoras, a great Greek Sophist ("Wise One").  We don’t entirely agree.

    a fortiori
    (ah-for-tee-AR-ee)
    The Mikey-likes it! argument. If something less likely is true, then something more likely is bound to be true.

    alloiosis (al-oy-OH-sis)
    The this-isn’t-that figure.

    analogy (an-AL-oh-gee)
    The figure of parallel cases.

    antapodosis (an-tah-POE-doe-sis
    A multiple simile. It compares two things that match in more than one way.

    antisagoge (an-tis-ah-GO-gee)
    The balanced argument.

    antithesis (ann-TIH-the-sis)
    The figure of contrasting ideas.
    Also see this.

    ceratin (se-RAT-in)
    The horns of a dilemma.

    chiasmus (kee-AZZ-muss)
    The criss-cross figure.
    Also see this.

    dialysis (die-AL-ih-sis)
    The either/or figure.

    dilemma
    The damned-if-you-do-or-don’t figure.

    enantiosis (en-an-tie-OH-sis)
    The paradoxical contrast.
    Also see this.

    eutrepismus (eu-tra-PIS-mus)
    The enumerating figure.

    isocolon (i-so-CO-lon)
    The figure of similar clauses.

    paromoiosis (pa-ro-moi-OH-sis)
    Similar-sounding clauses laid side by side.

    syncrisis (SIN-crih-sis)
    The not-that-but-this figure.
    Also see this.