"Go, I don't hate you." We all know this famous phrase of French literature pronounced by Chimène to Rodrigue in Le Cid by Corneille. This declaration of love with a negative turn is a litote. This figure of speech consists in mitigating and saying the opposite of what we think. What's the point? It's true after all, what are figures of speech for? We could say that they are an art of saying things differently to manage communication with others.
We do it every day, even spontaneously. Here are 5, oral style, that you will now be able to spot, name and use.
Top 5 figures of speech you don't necessarily know
1- The Adynaton: Word Formed on the basis of the Greek term dunatos, which means "powerful, capable of" and preceded by the private prefix "a", the Adynaton is the figure of the impossible, of impotence. It is a mixture between hyperbole, gradation and metaphor describing an impossible thing as it is excessive. It is to highlight a fact, an event to strike the imagination. Example: Robin made holes in the sea…. 2- The Epitrope: is an ironic address to a recipient by which he is invited to persevere in his baseness. The goal is to shame the person, to dissuade them by appearing to persuade them. This is a form of irony. Example: Smoke, do not deprive yourself of it and your lungs will be better! 3- Lapalissade : This name is formed from the name of a captain of the XVIs La Palice who took part in the Italian War. His soldiers composed, to pay tribute to him, a song that remains famous for the naivety that emerges. The Lapalisade is therefore a truth whose assertion highlighted makes us laugh. It is naivety that is humorous. Example: "We assume that the simpler things are, the less complicated they are" San Antonio. 4- Metalepsis: This word is inherited from the Greek word metalêpsis which means "change or exchange". It consists of evoking the consequence or antecedence of an event. That is to say, we will talk about the circumstances that accompany the action rather than talking about it to mitigate it. This figure is said to be a litote of politeness or diplomacy. Download Latest Crack Softwares Example: I do not want to disturb you any longer (here we hear the consequence, the fact of leaving, using the cause, I disturb you).
The Pun: this figure of speech so present in our lives
5- Calembour, it's a whole art of puns. We use words with double meanings, or the equivocation of a word or phrase. This figure is based on homophony (similarity of sounds, several meanings), homonymy (identical word different meaning), paronymy (almost homonymous word) or polysemy (several meanings for the same word): words are brought together with these bases to create an equivocation. The pun is often defined as a bad pun; There are a lot of them in advertisements. Example: every morning I wake up with happiness.
You now know the names of these 5 figures of speech that we hear almost every day. Indeed, these are turns of phrase used most often orally. It's up to you to make these styles your own! It's up to you to talk.
Source : Glossary of figures of speech, by Nicole Ricalens-Pourchot
Note: Cover image taken on Pexels
