aphorismus
Aug. 10th, 2010 07:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordaphorismus (ah-for-IZ-muhs) - n., the figure of speech of calling into question the proper use of a word.
Typically done as a rhetorical question, as in "How can you call yourself a man?" but can also be straight sarcasms, "And you call yourself a man." Richard II III.2.174-177, ending with "How can you say to me I am a king?" seems to be the favorite example of dictionaries. From Greek aphorismós, a marking off, rejection, banishment -- aphorism comes from the same root verb, in the sense of to define.
---L.
Typically done as a rhetorical question, as in "How can you call yourself a man?" but can also be straight sarcasms, "And you call yourself a man." Richard II III.2.174-177, ending with "How can you say to me I am a king?" seems to be the favorite example of dictionaries. From Greek aphorismós, a marking off, rejection, banishment -- aphorism comes from the same root verb, in the sense of to define.
---L.
