Test an idea with figures of speech

Why bother when you could just look it up?

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Transcript

I’ve written a document for some other people and I thought I’d test its merits on myself. And the document begins like this:

You could look up every figure of speech in about four minutes. You could ask a machine to write you a sentence in any of them and it would. And the sentence would probably be fine.

Learning figures of speech isn’t about producing better sentences. It’s not like applying a coat of paint at the end. This is about producing better thoughts.

A figure of speech is a question that you put to an idea and different questions produce different answers. For instance:

  • What is this not? To find out the answer to that you might use antithesis.
  • What happens if I reverse the terms? Chiasmus could help you find that.
  • What if I understate it? The figure of speech to use might be Litotes.
  • What’s the objection and how can I answer it? In that case, try Hypophora.
  • Or, what am I pretending not to say? In which case the figure you might want to test it on is Praeteritio.

If you put an idea through those five, you don’t end up with five versions of the same thought. You end up with five slightly different thoughts and one of them is better than the idea you started with.

So there we are. That’s the document I’ve written, for sharing with some other people.

And I thought I’d test it on myself right here in this podcast, which I’ve started a few days ago but haven’t actually announced to anyone.

So, my general idea that I’m going to test with these various figures of speech to see what additional ideas I might throw up.

Here’s the general idea: A podcast doesn’t need listeners to be worthwhile. I’ll say that again: A podcast doesn’t need listeners to be worthwhile.

It’s already useful just saying that out loud. And I’m already having lots of other ideas. But if I run it through the various figures of speech, here are some things I’ve come up with:


Antithesis: A podcast is not a broadcast that only counts when received. It’s a practice that happens to be publishable.

Chiasmus: Listeners don’t make a podcast worthwhile. A worthwhile podcast makes listeners possible.

Litotes: It’s not nothing to say something aloud every day with no witness but yourself.

Hypophora: But if nobody hears it, what’s it for? The making itself. Clearer thinking. A voice found. A record kept. Is that enough? Those benefits would hold for voice memo too. So what makes it a podcast is the intent to be heard.

Praeteritio: Not to mention that this is exactly what someone tells themselves right before nobody ever listens.


And that last one obviously(?) is something that does pull me up short a little. But there’s something useful in all of them.

I think it’s true that it’s not nothing to say something aloud every day with no witness by yourself. And it’s true that there’s a benefit in recording a voice memo with the intent that it might be heard. And I like the idea that listeners don’t make a podcast worthwhile. A worthwhile podcast makes listeners possible.

So: I came up with some interesting additional insight by running my original idea through figures of speech. And I’m quite satisfied with how that’s worked.

Thank you for listening.

I’m John-Paul Flintoff, and this has been Voice Notes to the World.

jp at this domain name.