Monday, February 8, 2010

Albrittonism

Grice writes:

"Discussion with Rogers Albritton" (of all people -- don't you hate this phrase? Grice uses it elsewhere) "whoed me that something is missing in [my] account of irony" (WoW: 53).

Grice's discussions with Albritton had Grice say:

"While I _may_, without any inappropriateness,
prefix the employment of a metaphor [a type of
conversational implicature] with

"To speak metaphorically"

there would be something

VERY STRANGE

-- more than merely otiose --

about saying,

"To speak ironically, he is a splendid fellow"

-- Grice comments: "To be ironical, is, among other things, to pretend, as the etymology [eirein] suggests -- hence the so-called 'pretense theory of irony -- a redundancy if ever there was one -- a humanitarian theory of humanity.

"And while one wants the pretense to be
recognised as such, to

BLATANTLY announce it

as a pretence (i.e. as an irony)

wouuld KILL the effect."

Etc.

I labelled this

Sesquipedalianism.

Other examples,

??? Zeugmatically, there was barely
room in my apartment to lay
my hat and a few friends.

???? Metaphtonyimically, she is pretty.


?????? Meiotically, he was slightly intoxicated
(of a man known to have broken pieces of furniture)

???????? Hyperbolically, every nice girl loves a sailor.


??????????????

Rhetorically axing, wasn't Albritton a _genius_?

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