Lots of ideas jumped out at me in this chapter. I'd like to start by discussing my thoughts on the trope, metonymy. I've always been interested in how regularly the media use metonymy in articles and headlines. For example just a quick Google search of the term White House yields some of the following results:
* Child Soldiers Backlash: White House argues continuing military assistance more important than enforcing law.
* White House Takes A Stand Against School Bullying
* White House Awards $2.4 Billion for Rail Projects
...just to name a few. If a person is not familiar with the use of metonymy, I can imagine the confusion created by use of this trope. To them, the building known as the White House literally argued with someone that military assistance is more important law enforcement. Or that the White House itself actually stood up on legs against school bullying. Or that the White House actually went to an ATM or got out its checkbook and wrote a check in the amount of $2.4 billion for rail projects. That's actually what the house wrote in the Memo.
When I used to work for the Department of Public Welfare in Chester County, we had to get things approved by individuals in higher supervisory positions based out of the DPW offices in Harrisburg. When I would take eligibility issues which I couldn't approve to my supervisors, once realizing this was out of their control too, they would say, "We need to call Harrisburg and have this approved by them." I obviously knew what they meant, but I used to always joke around with my supervisor and ask, "So am I calling the actually city of Harrisburg and having this giant monster-like creature in a city costume answer the phone and approve my eligibility issue? Or do you mean calling someone within the eligibility department, which just so happens to be in the City of Harrisburg??" I used to get the 'quit-being-a-smart-ass' look from my supervisor all the time.
Another favorite trope is the antonomasia. Since I am a music lover, there are tons of antonomasias in the music world. The Chairman of the Board, The Boss, The King of Pop, The Godfather of Soul, The Queen of Soul. If you Google search the terms exactly as I wrote them (and as they are commonly known), you get the following in order: Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin.
In Wikipedia, this isn't known as antonomasia, it's known as Honorific Music Nicknames. Which is basically an antonomasia for antonomasia: nickname.
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