10-second review: Hilarious send-up of the jargon of English and rhetoric.
Title: “Humours Inuniform.” John Stratton. College Composition of Communication [No Date], p. 208. Part of the series call Jeu d’Esprit that was featured in this journal in days gone by. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “Ellipsis,” muttered graying Doc Wattle, “acute corollary ellipsis.”
“Does this mean…apostrophe?” I asked.
“In a year, two years maybe—but we’ll try to keep the zeugma under antithesis. Later we can go to metonym for the pain.” He sighed. “It’s a shame to see you young folks with synecdoche. And so early. You ought to take better care of your caesurae. A scansion will help but half the time I wish they’d legalize synethesia.” ….
Comment: And so it goes on, ending with, “I knew the end would come easy: a swift, sure elision, and then at last, a graceful onomatopoeia. Simple.”
English teachers love to attack the specialized jargon of other fields. This article is just a reminder to English teachers that they too should watch their language.
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