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brachylogy (bra-KIL-uh-jee) noun
> Conciseness of diction or an instance of such.
[From Medieval Latin brachylogia, from Greek brakhulogi, brakhu-,
brachy- (short) + -logy, from logos (word).]
-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
> "The term for the omission of words that are intended to be 'understood'
by the reader is ellipsis. Its extreme or irregular form has a name in
Greek rhetoric: brachylogy, relying on the listener to supply the missing
words, much as I relied on the reader to put a verb in the sentence
fragment 'A profound question, that.'"
William Safire; Microwave of the Future; The New York Times; Oct 7, 1990.
I would really appreciate it if one of the experts could make the
parts marked with > understandable/ visible to me.
I profoundly cannot make sense from these words even after looking them up.
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Part one: Conciseness of diction = Very short speech.
2: The guy is giving an example of a very short omission(the ellipsis part) and the extreme omission: brachylogy, the word of the day.
I exist! I am a pedant! I have a foreboding signature!
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Carpal Tunnel
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BS, for a less concise treatment, read this on elliptical construction. then there is the related punctuation symbol, ellipsis. edit: according to Silva Rhetoricæ, the Rhetorical term brachylogia is more specifically, "The absence of conjunctions between single words." but we've seen these sort of inconsistencies before with rhetorical terms.
Last edited by tsuwm; 05/04/07 01:50 PM.
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old hand
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old hand
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I would really appreciate it if one of the experts could make the
parts marked with > understandable/ visible to me.
The difficulty (of making it visible) is due to the fact that the word refers to the absence (omission) of something unspecified.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well--I could not find a definition of brachylogy that makes it any different from ellipsis, to me. But this one did at least clarify for me that it is not confined to speaking only:
1. brevity in word use: brevity in speech or writing, or an instance of this
2. shortened form of term: a shortened form of an expression, used in informal speech (emphasis added) EncartaŽ World English Dictionary Both of them mean that something is left out, and that the reader/listener will usually* be able to understand what was meant. Dictionary.com gives some good (to me) examples of ellipsis in its def. number 1:
1. Grammar. a. the omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words that would complete or clarify the construction, as the omission of who are, while I am, or while we are from I like to interview people sitting down.
b. the omission of one or more items from a construction in order to avoid repeating the identical or equivalent items that are in a preceding or following construction, as the omission of been to Paris from the second clause of I've been to Paris, but they haven't. (emphasis added) Dictionary.com *I originally had the word still, there, but after seeing Dictionary.com's examples, changed it to usually. Their "I like to interview people sitting down." could be: a.) I like to interview people who are sitting down.; b.) I like to interview people while I am sitting down.; OR c.) I like to interview people while we are sitting down.
Last edited by Jackie; 05/04/07 03:56 PM.
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addict
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addict
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To go back to the original example: "A profound question, that". Adding words doesn't make it a sentence one would normally say - "A profound question is that". I would also say there is a shade of meaning (or at least attitude) different from "That is a profound question."
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addict
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addict
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...Adding words doesn't make it a sentence one would normally say - "A profound question is that"... "So certain are you?" -Yoda
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Carpal Tunnel
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"So certain are you?"
-Yoda
Quoth Aramis, anastrophically.
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Yes, I'm pretty sure by now I know what is meant. Thanks you all. I printed the Elliptical Construction page for weekend special home class.
>..> The difficulty (of making it visible) is due to the fact that the word refers to the absence (omission) of something unspecified.<..< Ha. :~)
Thanks Myridon. I think in the confusion of all those heaped up difficult words I lost track of the visiualizing example.
The example is quite clear.
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Carpal Tunnel
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tsk, tsk  -joe (it pays to use onelook, Anu) friday
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