Sunday, March 11, 2012
Rhetorical Devices
According to Chapter 3 of the THINK textbook by Judith A. Boss, rhetorical dices use psychological persuasion, rather than reason to persuade others to accept a particular position. A euphemism is the replacement of a negative term with a neutral or positive one to cover up or sugarcoat the truth. In the past week or two I’ve used a euphemism when posting an ad for my Dad online. We got a new jet ski and were selling our old one and while it is in okay condition, on the ad we put “like new” which sugarcoated the truth that it’s actually kind of old. It runs great still but by putting “has been used for years but runs great” would be less appealing to a buyer than “like new.” Another rhetorical device is a hyperbole which is a type of rhetoric that uses exaggeration or overstatement to distort the facts. I definitely use this type of device every day probably lol. For example, at work last week I had a headache because we were being audited and things were super stressful. I went to talk to my coworker and told her “my head is KILLING me right now” which was a total exaggeration. I also used this just yesterday when meeting a friend for lunch. I think I said “I am starving to death, where are you” which was also a hyperbole.
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I’m exactly the same way!! I say my head, back, neck, or feet are always KILLING me!!! Making situations more dramatic than they really are is a bad habit because when something really is wrong and you need to bail on someone, they think you’re just making excuses or being dramatic like always. I may not use the expression “starving to death,” but I do say “I’m starving.” This is far from the truth, just because my stomach is empty and achy, doesn’t mean I am starving. Although making things more dramatic than they actually are is a bad habit, it can also put much needed urgency to something.
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ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, I always say I'm starving to death or I'm so hungry I could eat a cow when I'm hungry. I am never going to die or actually eat a horse but I say it to make the point that I'm super hungry and want to eat now. Stressful situations like work make using hyperbole's easier because nobody really wants to be at work when they could be relaxing at home. Hyperbole's are something I think that our generation uses a lot more than other generations because we always feel like small things are worse than they are.
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