All 5 Uses of
rhetoric
in
Do You Speak American?
- As in many political arguments, the rhetoric of the public figures in the language wars probably fires up the activists but must leave many people feeling somewhere in the middle.†
Chpt 1 *
- But even the most eloquent journalists and educators find that their rhetorical tools are not keen enough to cut the link that ties these forms to the younger speakers of the language.†
Chpt 3
- With LBJ, the uninhibited rhetoric and flamboyant style of Texas politics—plus the ability to teach it either way—hit Washington and brought to town regional dialects that the country wasn't used to hearing from presidents.†
Chpt 4
- Ever since, the theme of reconquista, or reconquest, has surfaced periodically in romantic Mexican rhetoric.†
Chpt 5
- Their writings gave American literature a new style, scorning the constrictions of conventional writing—in Kerouac's words, an "undisturbed flow from the mind of personal secret idea-words, blowing (as per jazz musician)… limitless blow-on-subject seas of thought, swimming in sea of English with no discipline other than rhythms of rhetorical exhalation.†
Chpt 7
Definition:
-
(rhetoric) the use of (or study of using) words to make a point -- typically implying skillful useeditor's notes: Rhetoric is used with many connotations. "Effective rhetoric" has a positive connotation, If someone says something is "just rhetoric," they're implying that the words may make a good surface impression, but they are lacking in substance.