Figures of Speech Served Fresh

Quote: "Calls to Pizza Hut." Name allegedly given by the FBI to phone calls eavesdropped by the NSA; in the New York Times.

Figure of Speech: meiosis (mie OH sis), the figure of belittlement.

Dick Cheney says all that spying on Americans has "saved thousands of lives," but FBI sources say otherwise. Anonymous tipsters told the Times that none of the intercepted calls led to any real leads.

The National Security Agency dumped loads of info on FBI agents, who labeled these piles "calls to Pizza Hut." That's a meiosis (Greek for “lessening”), a put-down figure that often contains an analogy.

Snappy Answer: "The cheese alone kills more than terrorists do."