A friend of mine asked me this question and I can't for the life of me think of the word. Do you happen to know if such a word exists?
"...what would be the term one would use if someone made a statement where they generalized like saying 'why doesn't ANYONE do such and such?' when they clearly do not mean everyone but are just positing it as a proposition in general and are speaking to everyone but meaning some people?"
I appreciate any light you can shed.
Interesting and thought provoking. WELCOME
*waves back from the Capitol*
*waves back from the Capitol*
Maybe I'll see you at Charlie-Os!
Hi KathleenRose,
In general your example is a rhetorical question.
As to a specific name for the act of asking a rhetorical question to everyone while the intent is to direct the question to a few, there is no such English word.
I don't think.
Thanks jenny jenny. That does make sense. My thought was that it seems very passive aggressive. Rhetorical passive aggression?
I'm pretty sure it's something more technical. My friend did not agree with the rhetorical description. That may be because the question posed was meant as an example and did not contain specifics.
Ask your friend for some specifics.
I think it's a kind of synecdoche; that is, a metaphor or figure of speech by which the whole is put for a part (or vice-versa) - in this case, everyone for just a few.
or..
"Why doesn't anyone ever recognize Clark Kent?" (old TV/movie trope)
Yes, synechdote was my first thought - but I wonder if metonymy isn't nearer? Using the name of an object or attribute to signify something greater - e.g. "the Crown" when you are speking of the sovereign. "The Greek Navy could muster nearly 200 sail" meaning they had getting on for 200 ships. etc. etc.
Is there a word for a word which is an example of itself? For example, "is" is; "something" is something; "Mispelled" is misspelled.
the worthless word for the day is: autological
[fr. Gk autos, self + logos, word]
self-descriptive, self-referential
used to refer to words such as polysyllabic,
English, pronounceable, common, olde, noun, word
(compare heterological)
"If it seems questionable to include hyphenated
words, we can use two terms invented specially for
this paradox: autological (="self-descriptive"),
and heterological (= "non-self-descriptive")."
- Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach (1979)
"The question is: Is the word "heterological" auto-
logical or heterological? If it's autological, then
it's heterological. If it's heterological, then it's
autological. Ha! Ha!"
- Cathcart & Klein,
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar (2007)