Those following the "Brexit" politics in the U.K. probably have heard David Davis (U.K. Chief Negotiator) characterize the negotiations ahead as the row of the summer. I’m a continental European and can only guess what it means. Can someone explain this figure of speech? Here’s some context: From an article in The Irish Independent with … Read more
What figure of speech is the following statement? “If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” A friend said that to me today. Answer Looking around: Wiktionary calls it a “proverb,” which isn’t much help. I view this as an idiom, and a published book agrees with me. Quote: AttributionSource : Link , Question Author … Read more
From the folk song Oh! Susanna by Stephen Foster (presumably written in slave dialect): De bullgine bust, de hoss ran off, I really thought I’d die; I shut my eyes to hold my bref—Susanna, dont you cry. Sheet music from Duke University on Wikimedia Commons Emphasis mine. What does this phrase mean? All searches of … Read more
In The Crucible, Reverend Hale says that his books are "weighted with authority". Here authority is used as if it’s a concrete noun so I was wondering if there is a technical term for when you use an abstract noun as if it’s a concrete noun. Answer I would argue that in this metaphor, books … Read more
I am looking for a term (or a sentence) that would describe a figure of speech where one individual use a commonly accepted proverb (or thick concept or other) in order to disregard someone’s opinion on the matter. Example Obviously some things look better than others. If for example we consider two cities one commonly … Read more
I came across this phrase in school and I became quite confused with whether it should be seen as a personification or not. It may be a collocation but does that mean it can’t be a personification? ‘Gathering’ to me usually entails the getting together of people/ animals (animate) so if it is placed next … Read more
My friend thinks the phrase “I am a fast tiger” is a metaphor, is he correct? He also reffered to something that was not a hard rock as “a hard rock”, does that also count as a metaphor? Thanks in advance. Answer Yes, “I am a fast tiger” is a metaphor, as is “it is … Read more
Jacob’s Ladder Hearken! Trim that swagger a trifle, you wretched lump of earth! Stamp those feet neither, nor act so haughty Hearken! You are but a tiny figure on the grand scroll A statistic, a number— a one-in-a trillion figure Cometh before you a legion did Hearken! You canst begin to count them graves! The … Read more
While a Chinese friend of mine was reading the story, The Standard of Living by Dorothy Parker, she came across this sentence: Annabel and Midge passed without the condescension of hurrying their pace; they held their heads higher and set their feet with exquisite precision, as if they stepped over the necks of peasants. My … Read more
In Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread, one character comments on the name of another Carla Carlucci: alliteration. Or something more than alliteration, but I don’t know the term for it. Alliteration is the use of the same consonant (consonantal alliteration) or of a vowel, not necessarily the same vowel (vocalic alliteration), at the … Read more
