Rhetoric
Lisa's bringing Mayor Quimby his pre-ordered Girl Scout cookies.
Lisa: That'll be thirty dollars.
Mayor Quimby: For three boxes?!
Lisa: The money helps us serve the community…(counts off on fingers, list intonation) plant trees, pick up litter, cut up milk bones for old dogs…
Mayor Quimby: It was a rhetorical question!
Lisa: And I used rhetoric in my answer!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Language use in The Simpsons
Anyone who's a fan of The Simpsons and also has an interest in language should check out this blog site. It's Arizona linguist Heidi Harley's annual compilation of interesting and funny language things done by the folks of Springfield. You'll enjoy it, even if you don't totally get all the technical linguistic science thingies. A friendly example:
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I only have time for a short note, but I need to get this unbottled. I am becoming ever more disappointed, frustrated, even angered by the...
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I may write more about this later, but for now just examine the differences. Later... (added on Oct 9, 2010): Essentially, in apes the l... -
OK, somebody has to say it. 17 years ago close to 3,000 people died largely because the US was unprepared for an attack of that kind, or for...
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