The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #153852 Message #3606220
Posted By: Lighter
01-Mar-14 - 12:50 PM
Thread Name: BS: Omitted noun figure of speech
Subject: RE: BS: Omitted noun figure of speech
Thanks, DC.
SRS, the OED defines "metalepsis" rather differently:
"the metonymical substitution of one word for another which is itself a metonym; (more generally) any metaphorical usage resulting from a series or succession of figurative substitutions."
Rhyming slang deals in fairly arbitrary rhyme rather than in metaphor per se, so "metalepsis" seems not to apply. And even if it did, no one would know what you were talking about. At least with "ellipsis" you have a chance.
Arthur Quinn's "Figures of Speech" (1982) affords these examples of metalepsis:
"Paul will speak [figuratively] of 'preaching the cross,' the cross being [literally] the instrument of crucifixion and the crucifixion of Jesus being [literally] the cause of the redemption - Paul was [figuratively] preaching redemption."
Or Shakespeare: "'My father's grave/ Did utter forth a voice.' It was not the grave, nor the body within the grave, but something that was once within the body that did the uttering."
That metalepsis. Ya can't beat it.