This week's theme: words about words. asyndeton (uh-SIN-di-ton, -tuhn) noun
Omission of conjunctions, as in "I came, I saw, I conquered." [From Late Latin, from Greek, from neuter of asyndetos (not linked), from a- + syndetos (bound together), from syndein (to bind together), from syn- + dein (to bind).] Asyndeton is a powerful device to indicate extemporaneous effect, and to add intensity or force to diction. Imagine if it were "I came, I saw, and I conquered." It's easy to see how rhythm is lost. If you're itching to use all those conjunctions you've saved with the use of asyndeton, try polysyndeton, as in "Uncle Charlie gobbled cookies and bagels and pizza and pasta." -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The unwillingness to waste words shows up in the address's telegraphic quality -- the omission of coupling words, a technique rhetoricians call asyndeton. Triple phrases sound as to a drumbeat, with no 'and' or 'but' to slow their insistency: 'We are engaged... We are met... We have come...'" The Words That Remade America: Lincoln at Gettysburg; The Atlantic Monthly (Boston); Jun 1992. Sponsored by: mental_floss magazine is everything you should have learned in school, but didn't! Check out mental_floss on the web at http://mentalfloss.com Always find the right word with the Visual Thesaurus. Wordsmith readers save 10%. Try it free! http://www.visualthesaurus.com/?ad=aw&code=mx0 ............................................................................ Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched. -Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (1850-1893) Send your comments to (words AT wordsmith.org). To unsubscribe, update address send gift subscription, etc., visit http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/asyndeton.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/asyndeton.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/asyndeton.html This message was sent to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]".
