Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Metaphor

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Metaphor: noun - a figure of speech where a name, descriptive word or pertinent phrase is assigned to an object or action different from, but similar to, that to which it is literally relevant; an instance of this, a metaphorical expression.

'One indication that a novel falls into the genre of literary fiction is the confident use of metaphor throughout the writing.'

'Crossing the beach from the sea in her bikini, the girl burned the eyes of her followers as they felt the heat wave she left in her wake.' 

'A breath of wind stirred the standing barley, sending waves across the field.'  

'The hippie girl swayed in her rainbow muslin sheath.'   

942 - William I of Normandy was assassinated.

1900 - A first prize of 10,000 francs was offered for communications with extra-terrestrials, but Martians were excluded as they were considered too easy. Could be a retrospective claim of false discrimination, taking account of current knowledge.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Trope

Trope: a literary figure of speech. Tropes are often used to refer to familiar literary devices such as metaphors and other types of figurative language.

This is a subtle topic and one I can best explain by using the lazy man’s approach of pointing you in the direction of someone else’s definition. So, I give you this link and hope you’ll forgive my indolence on this occasion: http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/tropeterm.htm

It is worth viewing this site, though. And the examples given lower down the page say it much better than I could.

Pic: Grain crop ready for harvesting.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Synecdoche

Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole.

Examples:

Describing a vehicle as ‘wheels’

‘grey beard’ for an older man

‘hands’ for workers as in, ‘All hands on deck.’

‘the good book’ for the Bible

‘bug’ for any kind of insect

‘glasses’ for spectacles

‘irons’ for shackles used to restrict a prisoner

‘rubber’ for a condom.

Pic: Californian Poppies.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Purple Prose

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Purple prose: the use of over flowery or emotionally exaggerated language to describe events, people and feelings in a work of fiction. There are those, the ones without any romantic content to the souls, who automatically conclude that any work of romance is necessarily composed of purple prose. Such ignorance has long been demonstrated as erroneous by the brilliance of writers like Jane Austen, Rosie Thomas and D.H Lawrence.

A passage of purple prose, especially for you:

‘Jason, tanned and taught muscles staining at the fine silk of his designer shirt, poured honeyed words of love and appreciation over Laticia’s panting form as he stroked her pulsating flesh with the tender tips of his exploring fingers. Heavenly choirs chorused enchanting melodies in tones of ecstasy as his roseate lips lingered on hers, raising her desire to levels never before experienced. And the heat of a thousand flaming brands of passion seared through her heaving loins as his strong but gentle hands slipped beneath the…’

That’s enough of that. It’s difficult to write this stuff unless it comes to you naturally. But you get the picture?

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Meiosis

Meiosis: noun - presenting a thing with underemphasis, especially with the aim of achieving a greater effect, understatement. For those who are interested, it’s also a form of cell division, but that’s not what this spot is about.

British satirical works often use understatement to hilarious effect.

An example of the meiosis in use: ‘They say Bill Gates, Donald Trump and J.K. Rowling are all worth a few bob.’

Picture: the parish church of Driffield, seen from just off Spellowgate.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Ensure, insure or assure?

Ensure, insure or assure?

Ensure: verb - to make sure, safe, or certain; guarantee

Insure: verb - to obtain or provide insurance on or for; to make certain by taking necessary measures and precautions; to contract to give or take insurance, ensure

Assure: verb - to make safe from risks or against overthrow; insure; to give confidence to; to make sure or certain; convince; to inform positively; to make certain the coming or attainment of; guarantee; ensure

It is probably pedantic to be too concerned about the sometimes subtle difference between these three words that are often interchangeable. As is so often the case, it comes down to context. It would be unusual to use ‘assure’ in a financial context (though the industry often does this). And ‘ensure’ isn’t used in the financial context at all.

Probably, the best way to think of the general use of these terms is to think of ‘ensure’ in terms of a guarantee, ‘insure’ in the sense of ‘indemnify’, and ‘assure’ as a synonym of ‘comfort’ or ‘convince’.

So, we all ‘ensure’ the safety of our children, ‘insure’ our houses and cars against disasters and accidents, and ‘assure’ our friends and loved ones of our loyalty and love. Hope this helps.

Picture: Oxlands Dale, near Huggate, East Yorkshire.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Malapropism

Malapropism: noun -  taken from the surname of Mrs. Malaprop, a character in R. B. Sheridan's comedy ‘The Rivals’ (1775) noted for her misuse of words: unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; use of a word sounding like the one intended (homophones) but ludicrously wrong in the context.

Used well, the deliberate replacing of words with different ones can really make a humorous scene.

‘If it’s true that Jesus sent them gabardine swine into the sea to drown, it’s not very Christian, is it?’ (Gadarene).

‘Them women was jus’ sayin’ that there fellah’s fallacy ain’t nowhere near as huge as ‘e says it is.’ (phallus)

Picture: Overlooking the Yorkshire Dales.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Different from or different than

Different from or different than: In British English, and its cousins, you can’t follow ‘different’ with ‘than’. Although people use both ‘to’ and ‘from’, the preferred use is ‘from’. Fowler, ‘English Usage’ doesn’t even mention ‘different than’, probably because he wasn’t aware of it at the time: it is definitely US usage. And, here in Britain, it’s generally considered unacceptable. Things are logically different from one another, and using ‘than’ after ‘different’ is regarded as a grammatical blunder.

‘The bikini Elle's wearing is different from the one worn by Corinne, but I think that Elle’s is better than hers.’

Picture: the North Sea at Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: In medias res

In medias res: Meaning ‘into the middle of things’, this Latin phrase denotes the literary narrative technique where the story begins at the mid-point or even the end, instead of the beginning. Setting, character, and conflict are generally established using flashback and, sometimes, expository dialogue to explain and describe what has happened prior to the opening events. Its main advantage is that the story opens with dramatic action instead of beginning with an explanation and description of the characters and situation.

An example is Homer's Odyssey, where we first hear about Odysseus’ journey as he’s kept captive on Calypso's island. Later, we discover that most of Odysseus’ journey takes place before that point in the narrative.

The technique is used fairly widely in modern literature as a device to hook the attention of readers who might otherwise be impatient enough to discard a good story before it has really begun.

9 July 1911: Mervyn Peake, author of Gormenghast, born.

Picture: Nettle Dale, near Huggate, East Yorkshire.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Altogether or all together:

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Altogether: noun - the whole together, total, everything; nude, naked. Adverb – entirely, totally, in every respect.

All together; in one place or grouped; all at the same time.

‘Persephone stepped from the shower, dried herself and wandered into the sitting room in the altogether, only to discover her gathered friends had arranged a surprise party for her birthday.’

‘It is altogether likely that we humans are not the only life form inhabiting the universe.’

‘When we go to the beach, we should go all together.’

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Udder

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Udder: noun -  baggy and often pendulous organ, carrying two or more teats or nipples, in which milk is produced and dispensed in female ungulate mammals, like cows; animal's teat; in plural and informally - a woman's breasts.

‘Gloria had to wash the udders of every cow in the herd before they could be milked, otherwise there was a danger of infection from the mechanical milking device that had replaced manual extraction for efficiency.’

‘Wow, Henry, see that tart over there; with udders like that, it’s a wonder she doesn’t fall over. Mind you, she couldn’t fall flat on ‘er face, could she?’

Stuart’s Daily Word Spot: Paraprosdokian

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Paraprosdokian: noun - a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader to reinterpret the first part. This time, I’ll give some examples, rather than use the word in an illustrative sentence:

‘Denis prayed fervently for a skateboard, knowing prayer doesn’t actually work like that. In the end, he lifted a skateboard from a small child and prayed for forgiveness instead.’

‘Attending a mosque won’t make you a Muslim any more than taking a woman against her will makes you a lover.’

‘Why do you believe every word the pastor tells you, no matter how unlikely, but always touch the paint to check, regardless of the sign telling you it’s wet?’

‘Knowledge is knowing that pepper is a hot spice; wisdom is not using it to warm up the custard.’