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.

    « Timing Is Everything. | Main | We Sincerely Hope This Offends You »
    Tuesday
    Jan162007

    All in All, Quite Uplifting.

    scarlet globes.jpgQuote:   “If the Oscars are the senior prom, the Golden Globes are a Spring Break kegger.”  Washington Post.

    Figure of Speech:  metaphorical analogy, the comparison of representational imagery.  Often a form of hyperbole.

    The Golden Globes ceremony took place last night, allowing movie aristocrats to go slumming with the TV proles.  The Post describes the occasion in a metaphorically rich if-then analogy.  It’s great for topping one funny image with another for maximum hyperbolic effect.

    The awardees themselves were not so amusingly rhetorical.  Helen Mirren (“Elizabeth I” and The Queen) and Hugh Laurie (“House”) gave the best aporial anti-speeches.   Mirren:  “Elizabeth the First would have an amazing speech.  I have nothing to say except thank you very much.”  Laurie:  “I am speechless.  I am literally without a speech.”  (We made up the term “aporial,” but it’s a useful anthimeria.)

    Figaro loved them nonetheless.   Forgive his salacious figuring, but he thinks that in surgery-enhanced Hollywood, the very name “Golden Globes” makes a super metonymy.

    Snappy Answer:  “And just made for the boob tube.”

    PrintView Printer Friendly Version

    EmailEmail Article to Friend

    Reader Comments (1)

    Your imagery makes my "oscar" stand up and listen.
    January 17, 2007 | Unregistered Commenterdogscratcher

    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.