English

It seems that the weather gods have taken note of my joy at our spate of sunny days, and have decided to punish my hubris at proclaiming my satisfaction to the rest of you by sending me an overcast, cold and gloomy Sunday. Thus, I find myself sitting at the computer instead of running around in the local hills, and sharing with you some thoughts and observations. Actually, I’m sharing some thoughts that were written by my favorite curmudgeon, Michael, whose site you see listed at the top of my favorites list. Michael is another member of the grammar police who helps keep my writing from straying too far from the precepts pounded into me by the good sisters at Our Lady of Perpetually Hopeless Cases, only he doesn’t use as heavy a ruler. Hope you all had an enjoyable Spring day.

“Vatican says Pope not at fault in case.” In
case what? In case you were wondering? In case you planned to sue? In
any case, since my mother died there is probably no one else on the
planet who cares about the difference between synechdoche and metonymy.
I can never remember, but when the Vatican, which is a place, speaks it
makes me think about it again. In case I was wrong and there is still
one person out there who is interested, here it is: synechdoche is
using a part for the whole: (“all hands on deck” really means bring
your feet and the rest of you as well) or the whole for a part
(Cleveland didn’t beat the Lakers, it was just the Cavaliers—or maybe
just LeBron). Metonymy uses a separate but related concept to
substitute for what you really mean. That headline really means “Pope
says pope not at fault.” Surprise…. I’m pretty sure Julius Caesar
didn’t really want a bunch of ears, so ”lend me your ears” is metonymy,
unless he really meant “I want to borrow your whole bodies,” in which
case it would be synechdoche. Caesar was a classier guy than my old Air
Force sergeant, who would have said, “You mens listen up.”

 

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