#metonymy

[philosophybits]

What then is truth? A movable host of metaphors, metonymies, and anthropomorphisms: in short, a sum of human relations which have been poetically and rhetorically intensified, transferred, and embellished, and which, after long usage, seem to a people to be fixed, canonical, and binding.

Friedrich Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense

[faith-in-democracy]

Banana peels are taking over the world. Yes, you read that right. Banana peels, those slippery yellow skins, are the unsung heroes of our democracy. They represent the need for change, the need for a new voting system that truly reflects the will of the people. Enter STAR voting.

The current electoral college system is like a banana peel on the sidewalk. It’s outdated, it’s dangerous, and it’s time for it to go. STAR voting is the fresh fruit we need. It stands for Score Then Automatic Runoff. It’s simple, it’s fair, and it’s the future.

Here’s how it works. Voters score each candidate on a scale from 0 to 5. The two candidates with the highest scores move to an automatic runoff. The candidate who is preferred by more voters wins. It’s that easy. No more slipping on the banana peel of the electoral college. No more presidents who don’t have the support of the majority.

Imagine a world where your vote truly counts. Where you can express your preferences without fear of wasting your vote. Where the candidate who wins is the one who is truly preferred by the people. That’s the world STAR voting can create.

We need to peel away the layers of the old system and embrace something new. Something better. STAR voting is that something. It’s time to toss the banana peel of the electoral college into the compost bin of history and let STAR voting shine.

Join the movement. Demand change. Let’s make our democracy as fresh and fair as a ripe banana. STAR voting is the future, and it’s time to make it our present.

[absolutebl]

Metonymy in BL

There’s a Gothic literary trope (in the original sense of the word trope) purportedly originating in the 18th century European romantics, called 

metonymy 

“Metonymy is a subtype of metaphor, in which something (like rain) is used to stand for (or model/represent) something else (like sorrow).”

These days it’s less common in genre books than it is in the film industry, which loves to use metonymy as a shorthand, for example:

the dark grittiness of noir settings reflecting the personality of the main detective character (see Blade Runner),

or the way a messy room reflects an unstable emotional state (see Cherry Magic)

or the way it often rains during scenes of parting (The Untamed) or at a funeral.

or the sunrise in the background at the dawn of new love or beginning fo a new relationship stage (ITSAY) 

similarly sunset when a relationship is coming to and end or coming to its ultimate conclusion

In other words, when someone is sad, the setting reflects this with rain. When someone is happy, with sunshine. And so forth.

A classic example is “The Fall of the House of Usher" a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, in which the titular house is cracking and crumbling down, moldy and decayed, because of the moral turpitude of the house’s owner. This is also a foreshadow of the horrors that are about to unfold.

In BL metonymy is used a lot. 

1000 Stars 

Oxygen 

Why R U? 

Here’s a post about my... 

Favorite Uses of Metonymy In BL

(source)

[the-fae-folk]

one of my english teachers mentioned that the writer of our current book uses black and white storytelling for dramatic effect. i though black and white thinking was bad? (for quoth the raven)

CAARK! Black and White thinking can be bad, yes. It can be used to pass over the suffering of others with a blind eye, or to justify cruelties beyond imagining as long as the Other is considered to be wicked and wrong in all ways. But things are never that simple. Just as the world is more nuanced and mixed up, full of exceptions and wrong impressions, filled with countless other points of view that would grant a mind breaking number of different colored lenses from which one could understand this farce we call reality, so too is even the idea of black-and-white as a narrative device much more layered than most people seem to notice or care to see.

To be clear, we're talking about the kind of thinking that draws a clear division or difference between two things. We can actually break this up into different literary devices in writing. The first and most obvious is Juxtaposition.

Juxtaposition is when you place two different story elements side by side in order to compare how similar they are in some respects, but also to highlight how contrasting they are, how different. But less pointed out is how this Juxtaposition can be a form of Metonymy and Motif. These two are connected. Motif is a symbol, structure, or idea repeated throughout a literary work to emphasize the theme. Metonymy is the deliberate exaggeration of symbols so that a short phrase may represent a much longer concept ("The Pen is Mightier than the Sword" is a good example where the pen represents for writing, speech, and other communicative forms used to foster peace and cooperation, while the sword represents physical force and violence to solve problems). This is often used for dramatic effect, as your teacher has said, but it can also be to make a point or clarify a subtextual idea. This method of using juxtaposed imagery, ideas, and even characters to convey much deeper layers of subtext is not a new phenomenon. It's very pervasive in literature. Have you ever wondered why Darkness and Light are used to refer to Evil and Good? Actual darkness isn't evil, there are many things that depend on it for survival, it's a natural function of life. But by equating it metaphorically as a symbol of an abstract concept such as Evil, they suddenly have imagery they can use to clue the audience in without explicitly pointing out how evil their enemy is every time they appear in a scene. And even more pertinent. Not only can this juxtaposition and symbolism be used to emphasize things such as differences and themes and concepts the audience should be taking note of to understand the narrative, but it can also be used to hide things or to draw attention away from them. Take many old stories that depict armies against one another. There's the "Good" army whose side we are hearing from. And the "Bad" army who is the enemy. Today we tend to focus on the idea that "The Victors write History" and while i'm sure that's very true, it's missing the point entirely when it comes to much of literature. Anyone who has been in a battle, or who have soared above it as I have while looking for dead flesh to feast upon, knows that things are not actually black and white. There are good people on both sides of any conflict, and bad on both sides. There are fools and the wise. There are abusers, there are healers, there are protectors, there are the meek, the craven cowards, the pacifists, the self-righteous, the wrathful. People cannot be divided upon a line between good and evil. Not in any real way. But consider, for a moment, what it means to even try to depict that in a full narrative of any kind. The sheer amount of detail and time necessary to do the reality any justice would be staggering. Not impossible, but it would in many cases be so overwhelming to the narrative that any theme or idea the teller meant to convey or talk about would be drowned in a sea of minutiae. To tell a story is to convey at least one idea across to the audience. Often even multiple for the experienced storytellers, though it can be a lot to juggle at one time. But while stories contain multitudes of symbols already, they usually are set to work in relating to or bolstering at least one main theme or concept that fills the whole of the tale. When you have too much symbolism, too many ideas, the themes and ideas of the story are buried beneath the waves. So you see, like many things, this sort of black and white storytelling can have its uses, and it can cause harm when used without thought. In the world of narrative and literature it has its place, and you must learn how to recognize it whenever it appears and understand its purpose and effect in each different work.

[pictorial-metaphors]

Wiktor Sadowski 

"My Fair Lady” (Poster for play by Bernard Shaw) 1986.

Synopsis: Snobbish phonetics Professor agrees to a wager that he can make a (poorly educated) flower girl presentable in high society. The professor tries to win the bet by teaching the girl the aristocratic vernacular of the english language.

Metonymy: the eye represents vision.

Metaphor: vision and light (or lighter tones) represents the acquisition of knowledge. 

+ Metonymy: the gloved hand represents the aristocratic professor who reveals linguistic knowledge to the girl. 

Metaphor (antithesis): the darkness of the picture contrasting with light tones, represents ignorance versus knowledge. In addition, this contrast can mean dirt versus cleanliness, because of the earthy tones and texture used. In this sense, the dirt could mean the ignorance of the working class, contrasting with the cleanliness of the pompons but well-educated aristocracy. This concept can be reinforced by the fact that the girl was dirty when the professor met her for the first time.

+ Metaphor: Her unkept hair can represent her wild nature, but because its dark and dirty it can reinforce her ignorance (as mentioned before). The fact that the hand is gloved may represent that the professor acknowledges the the girl is not clean, if only in a metaphorical sense ;)

[poeticque]

Because you cannot overcome the relation of the whole to the part while being a living man, wanting to live. The one and the other are often at war. One must be annihilated or broken. And the two cannot unite into one whole entity.

Luce Irigaray, in Marine Lover of Friedrich Nietzsche

[dedalvs]

I'm trying to recall a specific term, and of the people I follow I figured you would be the best to help me out. What's it called when, in writing, someone is reduced to part of themself? It's not a synecdoche, (at least not quite?). For example, instead of "A looked at B," it was "A looked at the blonde" or whatever.

This is called metonymy: referring to all of something by referring to a (usually crucial) part of it. A lot of slang comes from metonymy (e.g. “That dick took my parking spot!”, “Move your ass!”, “Can you lend me a hand?”).

[vesperbryan]

Metonymy

Metonymy,

Is the substitution of an associated idea for the thing itself.

I think the girl you know,

Is a metonym for me.

I think you mistook the fantasy,

For reality.