flipflop_diva

There are many wild and wonderful ways to use words in one's writing, particularly when crafting creative collections. I am an ardent admirer of alliteration because of its whimsical wordplay. I definitely declare that a majority of mighty tongue-twisters make meticulous use of alliteration. Certainly, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Why would he not? But if she simply sells seashells by the seashore, would Peter Piper perhaps purchase Spotted Slipper Shells?

Alas, alliteration ages quickly.

"All eyes up front! I need to do a quick head count and make sure all your lovely young faces are present and accounted for." The teacher made sure all the students were where they should be and handed out the test papers. An hour later, time was up. "Once you drop off your test with me, you are free to hit the road!"

The sentences above contain several examples of synecdoche (pronounced sin-ek-duh-kee), which substitutes a part of something to represent the whole. In other words, referring to an entire person as just a head, or a face, or hands--as in requesting "all hands on deck"--is all in a day's work for this oddly named figure of speech.

When Keith got the okay to finally leave class, he bolted from the room quicker than a rabbit running from a starving dingo. He walked what felt like ten thousand miles to get back home, his stomach rumbling like a freight train the entire way. When he reached his parents' house, Keith dropped his boulder of a backpack in the front hallway and strode into the kitchen, to raid the fridge for leftover fried chicken. His mom entered the room, saw how much food Keith had piled on his plate, and rolled her eyes so hard that he could have heard it from space.

Did you guess I was going for hyperbole here with my extreme exaggerations? Good on ya!

There are so many varieties of figures of speech that it was hard for me to choose between them for this feature, from the well-known metaphors and similes to the oddly-named litotes. To be honest, I had never heard the term litotes (which is pronounced LIE-tuh-teez) before. But you know what? We probably all use litotes in our everyday speech--it's just a fancy term for using a double negative to express a positive, often with a bit of irony thrown in. You can't say I didn't warn you about litotes! Fortunately, this simple idea is not rocket science. It is easy to learn and won't take a lifetime to master.

I hope you have enjoyed this brief essay. Do you have a favorite figure of speech? If so, please drop it in a comment. As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you on the flip side!