British Comedy Guide

Are you having less these days or what? Page 4

You don't want to work for me anyway - I'm a terrible employer. And what can you get for tenner these days?

Laughing out loud!

Quote: Scatterbrained Floozy @ December 13 2008, 7:42 PM GMT

:O I am so going to have to debate this next English lesson. Because I'm pathetic like that, and now have to relearn definitions.

Isn't that like what I said? It's what I meant. "The hands" could literally mean someone's hands, but it's still a synecdoche.

By the way Flooz, your quoted example is also incorrect. You and Phil Murphy have been lied to. Don't trust the internet to give you the right answer...

'All hands on on deck' is a metonym and not a synecdoche, as hands do not specifically refer to sailors -you could easily say 'I need a few hands to help me put up this tent'. An example of a synecdoche is "three tanks and I could take the settlement', where three tank crews and their tanks are referred as only their machines. A metonymic example of the same sentence would be; "if I had more muscle I could take the settlement." You could equally say: "I'd open a nightclub if I could get the muscle." But you wouldn't say "I'd open a nightclub if I could get the tanks."

And now... the pub

:O I didn't trust the internet, I trusted my English teacher; but seeing as I can't talk to her right now, turned to the web-box. Thank you for the teachings, Mr. Taxi.

Quote: Scatterbrained Floozy @ December 13 2008, 7:59 PM GMT

:O I didn't trust the internet, I trusted my English teacher; but seeing as I can't talk to her right now, turned to the web-box. Thank you for the teachings, Mr. Taxi.

English teachers are liars. My English teacher once told me I'd never get anywhere by cheating. My exam results beg to differ.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ December 13 2008, 7:39 PM GMT

Sorry Floozy, not correct. The difference between the two is subtle in that both are figures of speech where a part stands for a whole - as you say, a 'suit' for a businessman, but a synecdoche is just a little less associative than a metonym in that it requires a metaphor that is specific to the object being discussed.

A woman could never be described using her eyes or legs as synecdoches as these atributes are present in men and other creatures. For example 'the eyes of the community' would never be understood to only refer to women. Even boobs is a tough call, although I suppose you could have a stripclub manager saying: "get me some tits in here" - meaning some dancers - although that would be a metonym and not a synecdoche.

No, it's personification.

Yawn - is that the time? I should be pruning my azaleas -or something.

Quote: David Chapman @ December 13 2008, 10:45 PM GMT

Yawn - is that the time? I should be pruning my azaleas -or something.

Surely, you mean skinning your plums Dave.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ December 13 2008, 11:49 PM GMT

Surely, you mean skinning your plums Dave.

He will be now Charley's here.

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