Abscission
[Ab*scis"sion], / n. [L. abscissio. See {Abscind}.] 1. The act or process of cutting off. ``Not to be cured without the abscission of a member.'' --Jer. Taylor. 2. The state of being cut off. --Sir T. Browne. 3. (Rhet.) A figure of speech employed when a speaker having begun to say a thing stops abruptly: thus, ``He is a man of so much honor and candor, and of such generosity -- but I need say no more.''
The above is from a site that I have lost in bouncing around tonight. If I can dig it up again, I'll put the link in.
Anyway, abscission is such a cool term! Wouldn't we call what we do here when we write and try to explain, and then get almost to the end, but end up with the word 'but'? Wouldn't that be a form of abscission? I'd go ahead and explain why I think it might be abscission and bore you all to death, but.
I'd say that was an example of aposiopesis if I didn't know...
The verb form, abscise and another 'apo' word, apoptosis are also rather common in medical jargon. It seems to me that tsuwm's word aposiopesis (whew!) and abscission in the third meaning that WW has proferred, are synonyms. Oui et non?
Here's from that same site--and I still don't have the url, although I copied out the list:
Aposiopesis
[Ap`o*si`o*pe"sis] (?; 277), / n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, from ? to be quite silent.] (Rhet.) A figure of speech in which the speaker breaks off suddenly, as if unwilling or unable to state what was in his mind; as, ``I declare to you that his conduct -- but I can not speak of that, here.''
So, maahey, see those question marks? Maybe you've answered their question!
That site is Webster 1913 out-of-copyright dictionary. It's all over the Web, lots of copies. Just look for "abscission Webster" or some such and you'll probably get them all. The giveways are how the Greek got turned into ? in the Web-ify-ing, and the way they quote "Jer." and "Sir T."
Looking at the two different definitions, I fail to see any difference. Dear WW: a suggestion: give an example of a rhetorical device, and see how long it takes members to name the device. That could be quite challenging.
That could be quite challenging.
"Anastrophe" being hors concours, of course.
Here is a rhetoric site with easy look up.
http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htmSee how long it takes you to find device used here;
"I'm not going to call you a crook, because I have no proof."
A po face is necessary for playing these games, Dr. Bill.
I'm a bit too occupied to look for it right now...
Dear max: One of the first words I learned was "Po".By being made to sit on one.
It was years before I learned that my mother had picked up
a few French words from a servant.
So you win the hand painted pot.
Dear max: One of the first words I learned was "Po".By being made to sit on one.
It was years before I learned that my mother had picked up
a few French words from a servant.
So you win the hand painted pot.
A po face is necessaryInteresting. That's not quite what the Forest says:
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/A/apophasis.htmAHD4, on the other hand:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/7/A0370700.htmlThe Forest seems to think it's more of a slightly expanded form of paralipsis.
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/P/paralipsis.htm
Well Faldage, in my defence, I will say that I wouldn't know rhetoric if it jumped up and bit me, and so I just found the definition on the site that Dr Bill linked to. That's all this pair o' lips is saying on the matter.
I hadn't seen the definition on Dr Bill's site; it didn't seem to work with my creaky Opera, so I went to Silva Rhetoricae and they seemed to disagree. I now, thanks to Internet Exploder, see that virtualsalt and the AHD agree with you. This leaves me in something of a quandry. I had always trusted Silva.
That is interesting. It also seems to be a road well-travelled here:
http://snurl.com/347f
everything new is old again...
