Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site proper.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!petrus!bellcore!decvax!decwrl!Glacier!well!ptsfa!dual!proper!judith
From: judith@proper.UUCP (Judith Abrahms)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Rhetorical Device Query
Message-ID: <225@proper.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 19-Aug-85 06:04:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: proper.225
Posted: Mon Aug 19 06:04:28 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 13:34:12 EDT
References: <277@mit-athena.UUCP> <3318@dartvax.UUCP> <723@ptsfa.UUCP> <> <181@proper.UUCP> <634@psivax.UUCP> <>
Reply-To: judith@proper.UUCP (judith)
Distribution: net.nlang
Organization: Proper UNIX, Oakland CA
Lines: 35

In article <> dmm@calmasd.UUCP (David M. MacMillan) writes:
>
>     Is there a name for the rhetorical device of using a
>trite phrase with its original meaning?  It is a curious
>device whose success depends upon the phrase being so well-
>worn that its literal meaning seems surprising, but not so
>archaic that its literal meaning is no longer understandable.
>     ... etc...
>     The only two examples of this rhetorical device which
>come to mind are:
>
>     1.  The song "I Should Care" (1940's?) in which the
>         singer complains that "I [she] should care" about all
>         the wrongs done to her by her beloved, but
>         closes with the line "I should care, and I do."
>     ... etc...

In a short dictionary of critical terms by Meyer H. Abrams (Cornell University
Press, I think), MHA defines a "dead metaphor" as one whose literal meaning
has been forgotten more or less the way you describe.  The example he gave
was the leg of a table.  He added that humor was frequently created by bringing
a dead metaphor back to life, as when Groucho was asked "Are you a man or a
mouse?" and responded, "Give me a piece of cheese and I'll show you!"

(I never found this particularly hilarious, but there it is to show that a
rhetorical device similar to yours was once noted, however parenthetically,
by a teacher I had at Cornell.)

Speaking of "I should care, etc.," has anyone noticed that the old form "I
couldn't care less" has been more or less replaced by "I could care less"?
By now the latter phrase could probably be used in the ironic way cited by
DMMacM, as in, "I could care less, but I'm within epsilon of zero and
working on it!"

Judith Abrahms