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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.
I'm immortal until proven otherwise
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)
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