P. J. O'Rourke

Preachers at black churches are the last people left in the English-speaking world who know the schemes and tropes of classical rhetoric: parallelism, antithesis, epistrophe, synecdoche, metonymy, periphrasis, litotes - the whole bag of tricks.

American Comedian

Joshua Cohen

Metaphors, similes, puns - all manner of metonymy - I'm interested in language that cannot be parsed by a machine - language that can only be understood through acculturation.

American Writer

Metonymies often rely on cultural knowledge, like using 'the pen' for writers or 'the press' for journalism.

Cultural Associations

Metonymy isn't literal; it uses one concept to stand for another related concept.

Not Literal

Sometimes just a part of something is used to represent the whole, like 'wheels' for car.

Parts for Whole

Metonymy requires understanding how details associate with a bigger picture, like 'Wall Street' for finance.

Understand Associations

Don't confuse metonymy with metaphor; metonymies are more about association than resemblance.

Not a Metaphor

Using metonymies can make descriptions more vivid and concise.