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ASF spelling and grammar lessons

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Julia said:
Exactly right, 2020. Thanks for picking it up. Tautology.
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at 3am the light was on, speech writer at his seat,
the pollies speech, half spin half con, was almost half complete .
"tautology!!", - ah damn the rules , heck no one these days heeds it
"I'll double up on those voting fools" - as he opens the thesaurus - and reads it ;)

these days of e-thesauruses...

by which I mean he copies and pastes
and the speech is filled fast as he feeds it
 
Julia said:
Exactly right, 2020. Thanks for picking it up. Tautology.
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Julia.
Did you actually hear what Howard said?
What is written above is not the way it was spoken.
Howard intended that Rudd's launch was described as "pretentious" (for pseudo), and a "poor imitation" (for ersatz) of the American campaign style.
We know this because his sentence went on... "complete with teleprompters, rear mirrors...", in describing the pretence.
My suspicion is that this line was not crafted by Howard, but instead by one of his slightly too clever spin doctors, who did not account for the stupidity of some journalists with poor vocabularies.
Correctly written it looks like pseudo-American, pseudo, ersatz launch of the campaign.
Context is important.
 
Julia said:
Tautology.
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see AGIN we find an interesting topic !!
for those who are easily enthused lol

Two meanings (redundant speesh , and logic implications) :-

Tautology can refer to:

Tautology (logic), a statement of propositional logic which can be inferred from any proposition whatsoever
Tautology (rhetoric), use of redundant language that adds no information
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Tautology (logic)
In propositional logic, a tautology (from the Greek word ταυτολογία) is a sentence that is true in every valuation (also called interpretation) of its propositional variables, independent of the truth values assigned to these variables. For example, is a tautology, because any valuation either makes A and B both true, or makes one or the other false. According to Kleene (1967, p. 12), the term was introduced by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1921).

The negation of a tautology is a contradiction, a sentence that is false regardless of the truth values of its propositional variables, and the negation of a contradiction is a tautology. A sentence that is neither a tautology nor a contradiction is logically contingent. Such a sentence can be made either true or false by choosing an appropriate interpretation of its propositional variables.
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etc ... it goes on ( not that this paragraph has EVER been understood by anyone who ever read this corner of Wiki lol) i.e. don't lose any sweat over this one - I think it's been posted onto Wiki as a pisstake ;)

Tautology and its application in Logic Synthesis
In Logic Synthesis tautology plays an important role especially for Logic Optimization. Though the problem is intractable, whether or not a function is a tautology can be efficiently answered using the Recursive Paradigm. Any binary-valued function F is a tautology if and only if its cofactors with respect to any variable and its complement are both tautologies. Hence it can be easily concluded whether or not a function F is reducible to a tautology by recursive Shannon Expansion and the application of the above theorem.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautology_(rhetoric)

the redundant overuse of excessive words ;)
I didn't realise that "Mississippi River" or "Sahara Desert" are arguably examples of (multilingual) tautology .:2twocents

They get pretty picky yes?
"Thomas Edison first invented the telephone"
should read "Thomas Edison invented the telephone" - sheesh serious pedantry IMO

Although sometimes used for emphasis - sometimes tautology is just the bumbling of a nincompoop ;)

Tautology in popular culture
United States President George W. Bush, before the Unity Journalists of Color convention on August 6, 2004, is quoted as saying (with regard to Native American tribes), "Tribal sovereignty means that, it's sovereign. You're a ”” you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities." [1]
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The Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution: In New York v. United States, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor stated, "The Tenth Amendment likewise limits the power of Congress, but this limit is not derived from the text of the Tenth Amendment itself, which, as we have discussed, is essentially a tautology." O'Connor reasoned that the Tenth Amendment simply reiterated what was already built into the structure of the Constitution generally: When the States consented to the Constitution they expressly delegated certain powers to the Federal government. Implicitly, what was not given was necessarily retained by the states.

Comedian Alan King used to tell this story: His lawyer asked him if he had ever drawn up a will. Alan said "No". The lawyer, in shock and horror, said, "If you died without a will, you would die intestate!" Alan looked up the word and found that it means "without a will". "In other words, if I die without a will, then I'll die without a will. This legal pearl cost me $500!"

The phrase "A is A", borrowed from Aristotle, was a favorite of Ayn Rand. The idea frequently appears in her Objectivist philosophy, especially as written in her novel Atlas Shrugged.

Douglas Adams used the phrase, "Anything that happens, happens. Anything that in happening causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. Anything that in happening happens again, happens again. Though not necessarily in that order.", in his book Mostly Harmless.
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etc
[edit] Examples of tautology
The British supermarket Tesco sells a brand of lemon thyme which it describes as having an "aromatic aroma". Non-cognate synonyms may also produce a tautology; "free gift" is tautologous because a gift, by definition, is something given without charge. Other examples of tautology include phrases such as "new innovation" and "tuna fish". The Yogi Berra-esque statement "If you don't get any better, you'll never improve" is another example. A very frequently used tautologous phrases are "PIN number"- the "N" stands for number and "MLB baseball" while "B" stands for baseball. A common phrase, such as "Thomas Edison first invented the telephone", is redundant, as there is no way in which someone could invent something a second time, so the "first" in that phrase is unnecessary.

The preceding sentence,

"A common phrase, such as "Thomas Edison first invented the telephone", is redundant, as there is no way in which someone could invent something a second time, so the "first" in that phrase is unnecessary.", is tautological.

"redundant" negates the need for "that phrase is unnecessary.".


[edit] Repetitions of meaning in mixed-language phrases
Exact repetitions of meaning sometimes occur when multiple languages are used together, such as "the La Brea Tar Pits" (the The tar Tar Pits), "the hoi polloi" (the the many),

"Sierra Nevada mountain range" (Snowy Mountain Range mountain range),

"Sahara Desert" (Desert Desert),

"shiba inu dog" (small dog dog),

"Mississippi River" ("River"-"river" river) "cheese quesadilla" (cheese cheese-item), Mount Fujiyama (Mount Fuji-mountain), "Lake Tahoe" (Lake Lake), "chai tea" (tea tea), "Table Mesa" (Table Table), and "Angkor Wat temple" (Angkor Temple temple). Possibly the most extreme example is "Torpenhow Hill" (Hill-hill-hill Hill, in four different languages). "Scientology" similarly combines two tautological multilingual parts, from Latin scientia (science, knowledge) and Ancient Greek logos (science, reason, speech).
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rederob said:
Julia.
Did you actually hear what Howard said?
What is written above is not the way it was spoken.
Howard intended that Rudd's launch was described as "pretentious" (for pseudo), and a "poor imitation" (for ersatz) of the American campaign style.
We know this because his sentence went on... "complete with teleprompters, rear mirrors...", in describing the pretence.
My suspicion is that this line was not crafted by Howard, but instead by one of his slightly too clever spin doctors, who did not account for the stupidity of some journalists with poor vocabularies.
Correctly written it looks like pseudo-American, pseudo, ersatz launch of the campaign.
Context is important.
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Hello Rob,

Thanks for that clarification. Makes more sense but still sounds less than great imo.
All I had was what was quoted from Crikey.com and I just copied that so my apologies if I passed on something which caused confusion.

Btw, is "pretentious" an appropriate synonym for "pseudo"?
 
Julia said:
Btw, is "pretentious" an appropriate synonym for "pseudo"?
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As pseudo was used in its adjectival form by Howard, it's a reasonable fit for the "imitative" (especially of something superior) definition.
Plus, in Australian vernacular we use the abbreviated pseud to denote something (and often someone - where I came from) as pretentious.
My point was more about a misinterpretation due to writing down what was heard without understanding the permutations of pseudo, its use in the vernacular, and how its conjuncion with ersatz rather than separation was not appropriate.
 
Antimetabole
I find that some of my favourite quotes fall int othis category ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimetabole
In rhetoric, antimetabole is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in reverse grammatical order (ex: "I know what I like, and like what I know"). It is similar to chiasmus although chiasmus does not use repetition of the same words or phrases

It is derived from the Greek anti ("against","in opposite direction") and metabole ("turning about").
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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill, The Lord Mayor's Luncheon, Mansion House, November 10, 1942.

Latin: The latinate expression of Parmenides philosophical thesis of immutability is rendered "Ex nihilo nihil fit" (from nothing nothing comes).

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.

"Johnson having now explicitly avowed his opinion of Lord Chesterfield, did not refrain from expressing himself concerning that nobleman with pointed freedom: 'This man (said he) I thought had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords!' " James Boswell Life of Johnson

"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, the rock was landed on us." Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet, Washington Heights, NY, March 29, 1964.

"I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent!" Dr. Seuss, Horton Hatches an Egg.

To be kissed by a fool is stupid; To be fooled by a kiss is worse. Ambrose Redmoon.

"Nice to see you, to see you nice" Bruce Forsyth

"In America, you can always find a party. In Russia, the party finds you!" Yakov Smirnoff

Many rhetorical figures in the writing of Karl Marx exhibit antimetabole or chiasmus. For example, his critique of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's The Philosophy of Poverty titled The Poverty of Philosophy contains such an inversion by reference. Similarly, in the preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Marx wrote: "It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness".

Dorothy Parker famously elided an antimetabole when she explained a tardy submission with "too fu-cking busy, and vice versa."
 
2020hindsight said:
Antimetabole
I find that some of my favourite quotes fall into this category ;)

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill, The Lord Mayor's Luncheon, Mansion House, November 10, 1942.
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then again some of my least favourite quotes as well could be called Antimetaboles - like this one for instance .....

down under we call tasers “lightning bolts”
- try to scarpa through wattle – they’ll still you
its not the amps and its not the volts
it's the kilowatts what’ll kill you

PS 1 joule / sec = 1 watt :(
 
2020hindsight said:
Antimetabole
I find that some of my favourite quotes fall int othis category ;)
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At school, one of my English teachers drummed into me that "quote" is a verb, while "quotation" is a noun. So one should really say "my favourite quotations ...". These days, however, common usage seems to overwhelmingly support "quote" as a noun, so maybe the distinction is overly pedantic?

- Snaggle.
 
Snagglepuss said:
At school, one of my English teachers drummed into me that "quote" is a verb, while "quotation" is a noun. So one should really say "my favourite quotations ...". These days, however, common usage seems to overwhelmingly support "quote" as a noun, so maybe the distinction is overly pedantic?

- Snaggle.
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snaggle
you're sure to be righter than me lol
thanks
I'll keep an eye on that next time I quotation something ;)
PS (happy hour comment ;))

PS
I used to be amp-i dextrous
till I got this re-volt-ing charge
I said "hey - just boys being boisterous”
he said “hey – here’s a surge from the sarge”

does it have to be bullets that drill ya ?
or guns from which current flows ?
I ask you what kills ya ? - watts kill ya !! (?) - (I think) :confused:
I ask you what’s dead ? – THAT I knows …:2twocents
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ps "knows" used instead of "know" under poetic licence - means the same thing, and rhymes with "flows" ;)
 
here's some more Antimetaboles (an-tee-meh-TA-boe-lees):
(which I'd call a Figure of Speech BTW )
From Churchill to Kennedy to Bush 0they all slip em into their speeches as much as possible :2twocents

Figure of emphasis in which the words in one phrase or clause are replicated, exactly or closely, in reverse grammatical order in the next phrase or clause; an inverted order of repeated words in adjacent phrases or clauses (A-B, B-A).
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Example #1: "The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence." -- Carl Sagan

Example #2: "Therefore the treasures of the Gospel are nets with which they formerly were wont to fish for men of riches. The treasures of the indulgences are nets with which they now fish for the riches of men." -- Luther, Ninety-Five Theses

Example #3: "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing." -- George Bernard Shaw

#4 "...that development, security, and human rights must go hand in hand; and that there can be no security without development and no development without security; and neither can be sustained in the longer term without it being rooted in the rule of law and respect for human rights.
-- Kofi Annan, Final Address to the United Nations General Assembly

#5 "The poet only desires exaltation and expansion. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head -- and it is his head that splits."
-- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

#6 "But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; we're armed because we mistrust each other."
-- Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Brandenburg Gage

#7 "Jesus Christ came to pay a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.'"
-- Greg Laurie, Harvest Christian Fellowship

#8 "All this means that the people of any country have the right, and should have the power by constitutional action, by free unfettered elections, with secret ballot, to choose or change the character or form of government under which they dwell; that freedom of speech and thought should reign; that courts of justice, independent of the executive, unbiased by any party, should administer laws which have received the broad assent of large majorities or are consecrated by time and custom. Here are the title deeds of freedom which should lie in every cottage home. Here is the message of the British and American peoples to mankind. Let us preach what we practice -- let us practice what we preach."
-- Winston Churchill, The Sinews of Peace

#9 "1999 and the illusion continues. In the name of freedom, many have used art as a means to destroy the human mind. As an excuse to continue we hear, "Art reflects society." In the name of recreation these people, in fact, are re-creating themselves in their own images; society then reflects art."
-- Prince

#10 "Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done."
-- George W. Bush, 9-20-01 Address to Congress and the Nation

#11 Harold Abrahams: "I don't run to take beatings! I run to win. If I can't win, I won't run."
Sybil Gordon: "If you don't run, you can't win."
-- delivered by Ben Cross and Alice Krige (from the movie Chariots of Fire)

#12 "The world faces a very different Russia than it did in 1991. Like all countries, Russia also faces a very different world."
-- William Jefferson Clinton, Address to the Russian Duma

#13 "How about this one on the international front. I don't know if you saw this -- just a few weeks ago. The German Parliament passed legislation giving animals the same rights as humans. I can't resist the irony: A nation that once declared people animals now declares animals people ."
-- Pastor Gary Brandenburg, 2003 sermon entitled 'Whirled Views'

#14 "I, too, was born in the slum. But just because you're born in the slum does not mean the slum is born in you, and you can rise above it if your mind is made up."
-- Jesse Jackson, 1984 Democratic National Convention Address

#15 "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
-- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address

#16 "In an age when both sides have come to possess enough nuclear power to destroy the human race several times over, the world of communism and the world of free choice have been caught up in a vicious circle of conflicting ideology and interest. Each increase of tension has produced an increase of arms; each increase of arms has produced an increase of tension."
-- John F. Kennedy, Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Address to the Nation

#17 "We say to our children 'Be like grownups.' But Jesus said to us grownups, 'Be like children.'"
-- Billy Graham, Harvard University Address

#18 Alexa Woods: "Seven seasons on the ice and I've never seen a gun save someone's life."
Adele Rousseau: "I don't plan on using it."
Alexa Woods: "Then why bring it?"
Adele Rousseau: "Same principle as a condom: I'd rather have one and not need it than need it and not have one."
-- delivered by Sana Lathan & Agathe De La Boulaye (from the movie Alien vs. Predator)

#19 IMF Contact: "And Mr. Hunt, the next time you go on holiday please be good enough to let us know where you're going."
Tape Message: "This message will self destruct in five seconds."
Ethan Hunt: "If I let you know where I'm going, then I won't be on holiday."
-- delivered by Anthony Hopkins and Tom Cruise (from the movie Mission Impossible 2)
 
more examples of antimetabole ;)

#20 When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

#21 You can take the gorilla out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the gorilla.

#22 Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. ””Samuel Johnson, Rasselas

#23 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! ””Isaiah 5:20

#24 Political speeches remain one of the most frequent sources from which we glean antimetabole examples. Winston Churchill used them frequently.
”Let us preach what we practice””Let us practice what we preach.”

#25 President Ronald Reagan, the great communicator, used antimetabole often, as in this example:
“East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; we’re armed because we mistrust each other.”

#26 An antimetabole can also imply humor as it does in the quote attributed to Samuel Johnson in Boswell’s Life of Johnson:
“This man I thought had been a Lord among wits, but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords.”

#27 You can also find antimetabole in advertisements, as with this next advertisement for Starkist Tuna:
“Starkist doesn’t want tuna with good taste. It wants tuna that tastes good.” .

#28 In literature, antimetabole can become high-toned and steeped with meaning. Shakespeare’s lines from Twelfth Night are an excellent example:
”Virtue that transgressed is but patch’d with sin,
And sin that amends s but patch’d with virtue.”
 
Another figure of Speech
chiasmus
ki-az'-mus Gk. "a diagonal arrangement"
(very slightly similar to but different from antimeTAbole)

Repetition of ideas in inverted order
Repetition of grammatical structures in inverted order (not to be mistaken with antimetabole, in which identical words are repeated and inverted).

Examples
But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strong loves.
—Shakespeare, Othello 3.3

The idea of affection occurs in "dotes" and "strongly loves"; the idea of doubting in "doubts" and "suspects". These two ideas occur in the quotation in an A B B A order, thus repeated and inverted
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It is boring to eat; to sleep is fulfilling

The pattern is present participle-infinitive; infinitive-present participle
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I swear , lol -
the older I get, and the more approximate my memory - the more befuddled I get, yet the more I appreciate Shakespeare ;) :2twocents
 
figures of speech
turns of phrase, schemes, tropes, ornaments, colors, flowers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech
Overview
Like wildflower seeds tossed on fertile ground, the figures of speech, sometimes called the "flowers of rhetoric" (flores rhetoricae), have multiplied into a garden of enormous variety over time. As the right frame of this web resource illustrates, the number of figures of speech can seem quite imposing. And indeed, the number, names, and groupings of figures have been the most variable aspect of rhetoric over its history etc etc
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.
accumulation: Summarization of previous arguments in a forceful manner
adnominatio: Repetition of a word with a change in letter or sound
alliteration: A series of words that begin with the same letter or sound alike
anacoluthon: A change in the syntax within a sentence
anadiplosis: Repetition of a word at the end of a clause at the beginning of another
anaphora: The repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses
anastrophe: Inversion of the usual word order
anticlimax: the arrangement of words in order of decreasing importance
antimetabole: Repetition of words in successive clauses, in reverse order
antistrophe: The repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses
antithesis: The juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas
aphorismus: statement that calls into question the definition of a word
aposiopesis: Breaking off or pausing speech for dramatic or emotional effect
apostrophe: Directing the attention away from the audience and to a personified abstraction
apposition: The placing of two elements side by side, in which the second defines the first
assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse
asteismus: Facetious or mocking answer that plays on a word
asyndeton: Omission of conjunctions between related clauses
cacophony: The juxtaposition of words producing a harsh sound
classification (literature & grammar): linking a proper noun and a common noun with an article
chiasmus: Reversal of grammatical structures in successive clauses
climax: The arrangement of words in order of increasing importance
consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse
Diorimazeau
dystmesis: A synonym for tmesis
ellipsis: Omission of words
enallage: The substitution of forms that are grammatically different, but have the same meaning
enthymeme: Informal method of presenting a syllogism
epanalepsis: Repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or sentence at the end of the clause or sentence.
epistrophe: The counterpart of anaphora
euphony: The opposite of cacophony - i.e. pleasant sounding
hendiadys: Use of two nouns to express an idea when the normal structure would be a noun and a modifier
hendiatris: Use of three nouns to express one idea
homographs: Words that are identical in spelling but different in origin and meaning
homonyms: Words that are identical with each other in pronunciation and spelling, but differing in origin and meaning.
homophones:Words that are identical with each other in pronunciation and spelling, but differing in origin and meaning.
hypallage: Changing the order of words so that they are associated with words normally associated with others
hyperbaton: Schemes featuring unusual or inverted word order
isocolon: Use of parallel structures of the same length in successive clauses
internal rhyme : Using two or more rhyming words in the same sentence
kenning: A metonymic compound where the terms together form a sort of synecdoche
[[non sequitur]]: a statement that bears no relationship to the context preceding
merism: Referring to a whole by enumerating some of its parts
paradiastole: Repetition of the disjunctive pair "neither" and "nor".
parallelism: The use of similar structures in two or more clauses
paraprosdokian: Unexpected ending or truncation of a clause
parenthesis: Insertion of a clause or sentence in a place where it interrupts the natural flow of the sentence
paroemion: A resolute alliteration in which every word in a sentence or phrase begins with the same letter
parrhesia: Speaking openly or boldly, or apologizing for doing so (declaring to do so)
perissologia: The fault of wordiness
pleonasm: The use of superfluous or redundant words
polyptoton: Repetition of words derived from the same root
polysyndeton: Repetition of conjunctions
pun: When a word or phrase is used in two different senses
sibilance: Repetition of letter 's', it is a form of alliteration
spoonerism: jumbling of the letters in words by a funny way
synchysis: Interlocked word order
synesis: An agreement of words according to the sense, and not the grammatical form
synizesis: The pronunciation of two juxtaposed vowels or diphthongs as a single sound
synonymia: The use of two or more synonyms in the same clause or sentence
tautology: Redundancy due to superfluous qualification; saying the same thing twice
tmesis: Division of the elements of a compound word
 
continuing ... ;)
cripes, by the time we investigate all these - .... this thread could still be going in the next millenium !!! lol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech

[edit] Tropes
Main article: Trope (linguistics)
allegory: An extended metaphor in which a story is told to illustrate an important attribute of the subject
allusion: An indirect reference to another work of literature or art
anacoenosis: Posing a question to an audience, often with the implication that it shares a common interest with the speaker
antanaclasis: A form of pun in which a word is repeated in two different senses
anthimeria: The substitution of one part of speech for another, often turning a noun into a verb
antiphrasis: A word or words used contradictory to their usual meaning, often with irony
antonomasia: The substitution of a phrase for a proper name or vice versa
aphorism: A tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion, an adage
apophasis: Invoking an idea by denying its invocation
aporia: Deliberating with oneself, often with the use of rhetorical questions
apostrophe: Addressing a thing, an abstraction or a person not present
archaism: Use of an obsolete, archaic, word(a word used in olden language, e.g. Shakespeare's language)
auxesis: A form of hyperbole, in which a more important sounding word is used in place of a more descriptive term
catachresis: A mixed metaphor (sometimes used by design and sometimes a rhetorical fault)
circumlocution: "Talking around" a topic by substituting or adding words, as in euphemism or periphrasis
commiseration: Evoking pity in the audience.
correctio: Linguistic device used for correcting one's mistakes, a form of which is epanorthosis.
denominatio: Another word for metonymy
double negative: grammar error that can be used as an expression and it is the repetition of negative words
epanorthosis: Immediate and emphatic self-correction, often following a slip of the tongue.
erotema: Synonym for rhetorical question
euphemism: Substitution of a less offensive or more agreeable term for another
hermeneia: Repetition for the purpose of interpreting what has already been said
hyperbole: Use of exaggerated terms for emphasis
hypophora: Answering one's own rhetorical question at length
hysteron proteron: Reversal of anticipated order of events
innuendo: Having a hidden meaning in a sentence that makes sense whether it is detected or not
invocation: An apostrophe to a god or muse
irony: Use of word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning
litotes: Emphasizing the magnitude of a statement by denying its opposite
malapropism: Using a word through confusion with a word that sounds similar
meiosis: Use of understatement, usually to diminish the importance of something
metalepsis: Referring to something through reference to another thing to which it is remotely related
metaphor: An implied comparison of two unlike things
metonymy: Substitution of a word to suggest what is really meant
neologism: The use of a word or term that has recently been created, or has been in use for a short time. Opposite of archaism.
onomatopoeia: Words that sound like their meaning
oxymoron: Using two terms together, that normally contradict each other
parable: An extended metaphor told as an anecdote to illustrate or teach a moral lesson
paradox: Use of apparently contradictory ideas to point out some underlying truth
parallel irony: conveys a meaning same in an expression
paralipsis: Drawing attention to something while pretending to pass it over
paronomasia: A form of pun, in which words similar in sound but with different meanings are used
pathetic fallacy: Using a word that refers to a human action on something non-human
periphrasis: Substitution of a word or phrase for a proper name
personification/prosopopoeia/anthropomorphism: Attributing applying human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena
praeteritio: Another word for paralipsis
procatalepsis: Refuting anticipated objections as part of the main argument
prolepsis: Another word for procatalepsis
proslepsis: An extreme form of paralipsis in which the speaker provides great detail while feigning to pass over a topic
proverb:A succinct or pithy expression of what is commonly observed and believed to be true.
rhetorical question: Asking a question as a way of asserting something. Or asking a question not for the sake of getting an answer but for asserting something (or as for in a poem for creating a poetic effect).
simile: An explicit comparison between two things
syllepsis: A form of pun, in which a single word is used to modify two other words, with which it normally would have differing meanings
syncatabasis ("condescension, accommodation"): adaptation of style to the level of the audience
synecdoche: A form of metonymy, in which a part stands for the whole
synesthesia: The description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another.
transferred epithet: The placing of an adjective with what appears to be the incorrect noun
truism: a self-evident statement
tricolon diminuens: A combination of three elements, each decreasing in size
tricolon crescens: A combination of three elements, each increasing in size
zeugma: a figure of speech related to syllepsis, but different in that the word used as a modifier is not compatible with one of the two words it modifies
zoomorphism: applying animal characteristics to humans or gods
 
"A common phrase, such as "Thomas Edison first invented the telephone", is redundant, as there is no way in which someone could invent something a second time, so the "first" in that phrase is unnecessary.", is tautological.
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Oh really???

This is a nice example of the common tendency of language police to emphasise the use of logic at the expense of both common sense and linguistic subtlety. Of COURSE things can be invented more than once. I myself invented risotto, not knowing that it had been invented by other people centuries before I was born.

Take another look at this so-called common phrase. If I were to slip into my grammatical nerd hat, I'd point out that it's a clause rather than a phrase (phrases don't have verbs), but that's the least of its problems. What about the facts? Wouldn't you expect the name Alexander Graham Bell to be in the place of Thomas Edison? I did. So I googled "edison telephone", and found this:

"Bell was undoubtedly the first inventor of the art of transmitting speech over an electric circuit, but, with his particular form of telephone, the field was circumscribed."

http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/biography/Edison/chap36.html

The article is discussing Edison's role in the history of the telephone, and Bell is called the the "first inventor" because Edison invented a new, different, and ultimately superior, form of telephone. That's not redundancy. That's skilled use of the language.

Ghoti (in fighting mood)
 
Snagglepuss said:
This line comes immediately after the party is trapped in the Mines Of Moria, after the Watcher in the Water collapses the entrance around them. It's from the movie, and doesn't appear in the book (I just checked).

Interestingly, earlier in the movie at the Council of Elrond, Elrond also says "We have but one choice. The ring must be destroyed."

And I've never heard the expression "I'd bet London to a brick ..." before. Any idea where that comes from?

Cheers, Snaggle. :)
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Just saw this. Earlier posters have supplied the meaning of London to a brick. It seems that Ken Howard - race caller - coined it, and it's cleverer than I'd ever realised; I've only just discovered that "brick" was a term for Ten pounds (money). I also didn't know that there's a response - bet you Paris to a peanut you didn't think of it :)

Ghoti
 
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