The way to love someone
is to lightly run your finger over that person's soul
until you find a crack,
and then gently pour your love into that crack.
~Keith Miller

Thursday, April 19, 2012

figures of speech

Greed is up next, but  don't really want to write about greed this morning ... I am thinking about other stuff.  So ...

paradox... a sniper's gun can keep him alive/if he weren't there with his gun he would not need a gun (on a personal level, not as a job which must be done): puzzle, anomaly, riddle

analogy ... similarity, comparison, parallel
 ... implicit comparison of two dissimilar things which have something in common ... not sure how this is different from a metaphor ...
 Metaphor is when you use two nouns and compare or contrast them to one another. Unlike simile, you don't use "like" or "as" in the comparison. (think quest)
 Metaphor is when you use two nouns and compare or contrast them to one another. Unlike simile, you don't use "like" or "as" in the comparison. (Stanford ... linked)


  1. oh ... here is what I'm looking for top 20 figures of speech ... some of these I remember ... some are new words to me

  • alliteration selling seashells by the seashore
  • anaphora  I have a dream ...
  • antithesis It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. ...
  • apostrophe where an inanimate is addressed as though "it" understands ...they cite "hello darkness my old friend ... "  maybe this is like "talking to the wall"  hmmm ... Not like the chorus in Greek drama ... Harvey?  idk ... I'm gonna have to think about this one.
  • assonance repetition of "same" sounds (vowel sounds)
  • chiasmus new word for me ... ex. "never be kissed by a fool, never let a kiss fool you", or this one ... comfort the disturbed, disturb the comforted.  I like it. “Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful” ~ Warren Buffet (Hmmmm)
  • euphemism substituting "easy words" for emotionally charged words ... or images, as enhanced interrogation rather then torture, ummm ... my sniper show is rife with euphemisms  acquire and neutralize the target ... marginalize, pre-owned, mis-spoke ... 
  • hyperbole an amplification of reality ... exaggeration
  • irony contradictory ... incongruity 
  • litotes hmmm ... new to me and I don't understand it clearly enough to "get" it the showed a quote by O.J. Simpson from a paid appearance at a horror comic book show "I am not here for my health." that I get, but don't know how to describe 
  • metaphor bridging to the unfamiliar with the familiar ... a comparison of what is understood as a way of grasping new information ... ummm maybe unspeakable stories dressed up in masquerade 
  • metonymy
  • onomatopoeia
  • oxymoron
  • paradox
  • personification
  • pun
  • simile
  • synecdoche
  • understatement
"favorite" thing I saw today:
"We're conceived in irony. We float in it from the womb. It's the amniotic fluid. It's the silver sea. It's the waters at their priest-like task, washing away guilt and purpose and responsibility. Joking but not joking. Caring but not caring. Serious but not serious." (Hilary in The Old Country by Alan Bennett, 1977)

And what I am looking for today during my walk ... I took this photo last year.  Now the Magnolias are budding ... I have seen one overachiever already in bloom.  The air is scented with their unique splendor.  This must be the smell of virtue.  I am going to be thinking of which one specifically.  This is one of the best fragrances anywhere ... ever. And this flower is so reserved ... so bold yet so shy ... it is worth handling with the utmost care.  Well ... this tree represents the very best of all things Southern.  It is actually better then the South ... and should grow only in Texas (lol).

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