First Blog

Since this is my very first conjecture, I guess it should be a good one. Not much chance of that!

I have been thinking lately of the word "synecdoche." I was tormented for several days trying to remember the word. I knew I had read it somewhere but for the life of me I could not remember it. I even knew what it meant and how to use it properly. I can only conclude that I was having a "premature" senior moment. Finally, as I was riding down the road, it struck me like a boulder. SYNECDOCHE.

Then I looked it up. Much to my surprise, it has much more meaning than I had imagined. I knew that it is a figure of speech that uses a portion to represent the whole (for example, "I got a new set of wheels.") What I have subsequently learned (in addition to the proper pronunciation) is that it carries several meanings.

Synecdoche:
Part is used to represent the whole
The whole is used to represent a part
A specific kind is used to represent a more general kind
A material is used to represent something made of that material.

Now whether all this is significant to anyone but me, I do not know. The thing is I am an incurable logophile. I cannot resist the lure of words--I like to learn them, use them, and play with them. I do not claim any particular facility for these things but it is one source of enjoyment for me. Last Saturday as my wife and I went about our business, I challenged her to use this word at some point during the day in a sentence. Over in the evening, she did it. I was never so proud.