The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #153852 Message #3606623
Posted By: MGM·Lion
03-Mar-14 - 12:47 AM
Thread Name: BS: Omitted noun figure of speech
Subject: RE: BS: Omitted noun figure of speech
McGrath's two posts above is a precise example of aposiopesis, which I suggested above.
The use of an adjective as a collective abstract noun to indicate all those subsumed by its description, as in 'Land of the free', 'The poor are always with us', &c, is a basic part of the language & has been so since time immemorial, & not quite the same as using part of a conventional phrase [eg 'your shell-like'] as an innuendo towards the meaning implied.
~M~