POWER WRITING, POWER SPEAKING: 200 Ways to Make Your Words Count

Metonymy, epithet, irony, invective: rhetorical devices, explained and examined for modern usage. The authors have collected and organized such terms according to use (Figures of Speech, Figures of Persuasion, Humor), given definitions and examples. For simile: ""What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art."" For concise statement: ""We shall overcome."" For malapropism: ""He is suffering from bottle fatigue."" Some come front the famous, such as Will Rogers' paradox (""This is the only country that ever went to the poorhouse in an automobile""), Dorothy Parker's hyperbole (""He and I had an office so tiny that an inch smaller and it would have been adultery""), or Groucho Marx' double entendre (""Author: Have you read my last book? Critic: I hope so""). Most are clearly illustrated, along with examples of no-nos such as this mixed metaphor: ""Now that Jim is back in the saddle, everything will be smooth sailing."" More descriptive than instructive, and mildly diverting.