About This Site

Figaro rips the innards out of things people say and reveals the rhetorical tricks and pratfalls. For terms and definitions, click here.
(What are figures of speech?)
Ask Figaro a question!

This form does not yet contain any fields.

    « Bond Fans Shaken, Not Stirred | Main | Nation Breaks Out in Hives! »
    Wednesday
    Apr192006

    You Disrespect My Man But I Ain't Giving Him No Can

    bush-rummy-posse.jpgQuote:  "I’m the decider, and I decide what is best.  And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."  President Bush.

    Figure of Speechanadiplosis (an-a-di-PLO-sis), the last-word, first-word repetition.

    Generals don’t like Rummy.  Congress doesn’t like him either.  He fails to defer to generals and members of Congress.  Oh, and he screwed up the war in Iraq. 

    But Bush is the decider, and he uses an anadiplosis ("redouble") to announce his decidingness.  The figure takes the last word of a phrase and repeats it in the beginning of the next phrase, giving an overlapping effect to a sentence — sort of like roof tiles, making the whole thing logically watertight.

    An anadiplosis can also make you sound like a hip hop artist; in this case, a very white hip hop artist.  You got to work on that rhythm, Dawg.

    Snappy Answer:  "You mean what’s best for Don Rumsfeld, or the country?"

    PrintView Printer Friendly Version

    EmailEmail Article to Friend

    Reader Comments (2)

    LOL, your photoshop skills can improve, but the idea is sticky both as a concept and visual, well done :)
    August 20, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAJ Kidney
    I’m the bad decider, and I decide what is worst

    (forgive my english)
    November 14, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterpablo rey

    PostPost a New Comment

    Enter your information below to add a new comment.

    My response is on my own website »
    Author Email (optional):
    Author URL (optional):
    Post:
     
    All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.