Posts Tagged ‘rhetoric’
Posted by kazvorpal on July 21, 2010
Malversation
n. Corruption, as of a public official
Yes, we are aware that “corruption of a public official” may be redundant. See “criminal lawyer”.
Examples:
He charged him with several grievous acts of malversation in office, with abuses of a public trust of a great and heinous nature.
— Edmund Burke, speech “On the Nabob of Arcot’s debts.” (1785)
They protest against the malversation of the whole of the moneys raised by additional taxes as a Famine Insurance fund to other purposes.
— Rudyard Kipling, The Enlightenments of Agett, M. P.
Destitute of the lawful means of supporting his rank, his dignity presents a motive for malversation, and his power furnishes the means.
— Jeremy Bentham, The Rationale of Reward
The odium lies in the malversation of the real, the faking of the event and the malversation of the war.
— Jean Baudrillard, The Gulf War did not take place
Etymology: Mal is, of course, Latin for “bad” (think malicious), and versari is Latin for “to behave” (think “versatile”)
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Posted in history, rhetoric | Tagged: bentham, burke, bush, clinton, corruption, edmund burke, gulf war, jeremy bentham, kipling, Knowledge, lexicon, malversation, nixon, obama, pitt the elder, rhetoric, rudyard kipling, scandal, vocabulary, watergate, word of the day, words, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on July 12, 2010
Hypophora
n. What is hypophora? It is the rhetorical technique of asking a question, then immediately answering it.
This is not to be confused with a “rhetorical question”, which is asked for the sake of convincing the audience, but might not be answered at all. Note that, in fact, people mis-use “rhetorical question” to mean any time a did not need an answer, even when it was not for rhetorical purposes. “Ouch! Why did I do that?” is not a rhetorical question.
Aside from our clever demonstration of the word above, it’s difficult to find famous quotations actually including the word hypophora, but we found some examples of quotations demonstrating the technique:
ARTHUR: Well, I am king!
DENNIS: Oh king, eh, very nice. And how d’you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers!
What makes a king out of a slave? Courage!
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage!
— Cowardly Lion, The Wizard of Oz, 1939
Is He the God of the Jews only?
Is He not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also
— Romans 3.29
Etymology: Hypo is Greek for “without”, phoros; Greek for “to bear or have”, related to anthypophora; to give an opposing argument, and immediately refute it
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Posted in rhetoric | Tagged: anarcho-syndicalism, bible quotes, cowardly lion, dennis, english, gentiles, holy grail, hypophora, jews, Knowledge, language, lexicon, lingo, monty python, monty python and the holy grail, new testament, oz, paul, paul of tarsis, peasants, pythons, rhetoric, rhetorical question, romans, sesquipedalia, sesquipedalia verba, sesquipedalian, sesquipedalianism, vocabulary, vocabulary words, wizard of oz, word of the day, words | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on October 7, 2009
We may appeal to every page of history we have hitherto turned over, for proofs irrefragable, that the people, when they have been unchecked, have been as unjust, tyrannical, brutal, barbarous and cruel as any king or senate possessed of uncontrollable power. -- John Adams
Irrefragable
adj. Which cannot be refuted; indisputable, clearly right, incontrovertible.
We may appeal to every page of history we have hitherto turned over, for proofs irrefragable, that the people, when they have been unchecked, have been as unjust, tyrannical, brutal, barbarous and cruel as any king or senate possessed of uncontrollable power.
— John Adams, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (11-13-1815)
Etymology
Neoclassical Latin, refragari means “to oppose or contest”, the Latin frag means to break, as in fragment and fraction. Same Indo-European root as “break”.
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Posted in Knowledge, rhetoric | Tagged: debate, english, high vocabulary, irregragable, john adams, latin, lexicon, proof, refragari, rhetoric, vocabulary, word of the day, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on October 5, 2009
Barry Goldwater, delivering a hortatory speech
Hortatory
adj. Giving exhortation or advice; encouraging; exhortatory; inciting; as, a hortatory speech.
Considering the avowed purpose of his work, which is rather hortatory than historical, we are fortunate indeed to be given so much first-hand information by this embittered preacher.
J N L Myres, in R G Collingwood and J N L Myres Roman Britain and the English Settlements (1937) p. 329
Etymology
15th century, neoclassical Latin, Hortati means “to exhort”, an intensified version of Horiri, “to urge”.
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Posted in rhetoric | Tagged: barry goldwater, exhortation, exhortatory, goldwater, goldwater girls, hortatory, public speaking, quotations, rhetoric, speaking, speech | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on October 3, 2009
We deliberated between da Vinci, Ben Franklin, and Samuel Clemens as the quintessential autodidact
Autodidact (plural: autodidacts)
n. A self-taught person; an automath.
Having taught himself more about the sciences than any teacher of his age already knew, Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the greatest autodidacts.
Etymology
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Posted in Knowledge | Tagged: autodidact, autodidactism, da vinci, education, english, high vocabulary, Knowledge, language, learning, lexicon, pithiness, renaissance man, rhetoric, verbosity, vocabulary, words | 1 Comment »
High-Vocabulary Word of the Day 