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| Posted by: Boldwin
- [24421220] Mon, May 12, 2008, 23:00
I can recall somewhere there is a thread Polk came up with to come up with interesting words, which isn't just a useful project for a working journalist, but also for a serious poster here.
Increasing our toolbox of words and metaphors is the springboard to the next level of understanding. Shall we give it a go?
Prolepsis1. The anachronistic representation of something as existing before its proper or historical time, as in the precolonial United States.
2.
a. The assignment of something, such as an event or name, to a time that precedes it, as in If you tell the cops, you're a dead man.
b. The use of a descriptive word in anticipation of the act or circumstances that would make it applicable, as dry in They drained the lake dry.
3. The anticipation and answering of an objection or argument before one's opponent has put it forward. Three keys to my success as a poster/debater...
- decades talking to people of other religions and having to see things thru their set of beliefs and know in advance where the discussion could potentially go.
- mastering chess...gotta think three moves ahead at all times.
- 'without an illustration, Jesus would not speak'...an illustration, a fitting one, already contains within itself the answer to objections that might be raised against the point learned from the illustration.
Besides I kinda like prolepsis as a powertool akin to hyperbole. You don't just drain the lake, you drain it dry, lol.
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