Sunday, June 26, 2011

Rhetoric - polysyndeton



polysyndeton [ˌpɒliˈsɪndɪˌtɒn, -tən] n.

1.) Rhetoric. The repetitive use of conjunctions between elements in a sentence, such as words, phrases, or clauses. This device can make a speaker or writer sound breathless (Garner's Modern American Usage 3rd Ed.).

Etymology: Late Greek polusundeton, from neuter of polusundetos, using many connectives: polu-, poly- + sundetos, bound together.

"And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands" (Book of Haggai, Haggai, 520 BCE).

(La distruzione del Tempio di Gerusalemme, Francesco Hayez, 1867)

28 comments:

Jazz bazooka said...

i dont think i understand this one thou , sounds cool

Salted Plum said...

I think St. Markos used this a lot ... I may be mistaken.

D4 said...

So that's what it's called. I'm gonna have a bit of trouble remembering it.. And thus notepads were invented!

Unknown said...

@Jazz: It's like what a hyper kid would sound like with a run-on sentence

DEZMOND said...

love that dramatic painting!

Come At Me Bro said...

This is great!

Anonymous said...

A lot of religious texts are written like this I think. Especially Genesis.

Brandon Sample said...

i usually listen to the word first, then try to figure out what it means. I didn't do too bad this time.

TIMMYTHEROBOT said...

will remember this one

i said...

I get it, it describes the way some sentences can drag on and on and on and on and...

MRanthrope said...

a fancy word for a blabbermouth? SWEET

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Reminds me of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail skit about the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch where the monk is reading from the Book of Armaments which goes on and on in just this style. "Skip a bit, brother" says the bishop.

Bart said...

never seen this word before

Meri said...

I can't imagine that anyone uses this outside of an English or grammar or linguistics class :)

Melanie said...

looks like it should be the name of some kind of talking dinosaur...

Unknown said...

I didn't even know there was a term for that. I remember getting marked down for doing just that in primary school.

Fang said...

People should avoid doing this, it's extremely annoying.

Intraman said...

Hemingway used this all the time

Endless said...

nice markup you did there

Anonymous said...

Really nice Markup and Picture!
Have a nice day!

themajessty said...

If I used this, my friends will kowtow to me.

But on the sad side, I'd be branded as a nerd and an untouchable all through high school. ):

Thanks to YOU, I'm in a dilemma. Humph.

Kristin H said...

Doing that myself... way to often unfortunately!

T. Banacek said...

That's a lot of ands.

M Pax said...

Hemingway was fond of using polysyndeton. Had no idea there was such a name for it.

netw said...

polysendeton, cool

Jenny Woolf said...

A particularly nice word because there isn't another one that will do the same job, as far as I know.

menshans said...

I love the painting!

Once Upon A Time... said...

oh gosh, these words you've been posting are soo difficult to pronounce or to even understand! at least i know the meaning of this word, we use it alot in our poems!

jos xx

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