HYPERBOLE, METONYMY AND SYNECDOCHE

Hyperbole

A hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration used to make a point. It is like the opposite of “understatement.” It is from a Greek word meaning “excess.” Hyperbole can be found in literature and oral communication. They would not be used in nonfiction works, like medical journals or research papers; but, they are perfect for fictional works, especially to add color to a character or humor to the story.

Hyperbole makes the point that the speaker found the extremely heavy, although it was nothing like a literal ton. For instance, when you meet a friend after a long time, you say, “Ages have passed since I last saw you”. You may not have met him for three or four hours or a day, but the use of the word “ages” exaggerates this statement to add emphasis to your wait.  Therefore, a hyperbole is an unreal exaggeration to emphasize the real situation. Some other common Hyperbole examples are given below.

Here are some common examples of hyperbole:

• I am so hungry I could eat a horse.
• I have a million things to do.
• I had to walk 15 miles to school in the snow, uphill.
• I had a ton of homework.
• If I can’t buy that new game, I will die.
• He is as skinny as a toothpick.
• This car goes faster than the speed of light.
• That new car costs a bazillion dollars.
• We are so poor; we don’t have two cents to rub together.
• That joke is so old, the last time I heard it I was riding on a dinosaur.
• They ran like greased lightning.
• He's got tons of money.
• You could have knocked me over with a feather.
• Her brain is the size of a pea.
• He is older than the hills.

Some jokes also take advantage of hyperbole, like the “Your Mama” jokes.

For example:

• Your mama is so lazy she got a remote controller to operate her remote.
• Your mama is so old her social security number is 1.
• Your mama is so ugly they didn’t give her a costume when she auditioned for Star Wars.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

1.      Metonymy

Metonymy is a figure of speech in which something is called by a new name that is related in meaning to the original thing or concept. For example, it’s common practice to refer to celebrity life and culture in the United States as “Hollywood,” as in “Hollywood is obsessed with this new diet.” The meaning of this statement is not that the place itself has any obsession, of course, but instead refers to the celebrities and wannabe celebrities who reside there.

Here are more examples of metonymy:

• The big house—Refers to prison
• The pen—Can refer to prison or to the act of writing
• Stuffed shirts—People in positions of authority, especially in a business setting
• The crown—a royal person
• The Yankees/The Red Sox/The Cowboys, etc.—any team name is regularly used as a metonym for the players on the team. This is a less obvious metonym because often the team name is a group of people (the Cowboys, for instance), yet of course the football players who make up the Dallas Cowboys are not, in fact, cowboys.
• The New York Times/Morgan Stanley/Wells Fargo, etc.—any organization or company name is often used to stand in for the people who work there, such as “The New York Times stated that…” or “Wells Fargo has decided….”

We can use metonymy in our daily life,such as examples:

• England decides to keep check on immigration. (England refers to the government.)
• The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force.)
• The Oval Office was busy in work. (“The Oval Office” is a metonymy as it stands for people at work in the office.)
• Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help.)

2.      Synecdoche

Synecdoche is a literary device in which a part of something represents the whole or it may use a whole to represent a part. We often use synecdoche in casual language, and writers often use it to create realistic dialogue for their characters that sound more natural and realistic.

Synecdoche Forms

There are several different forms of synecdoche examples including:

• A synecdoche may use part of something to represent the entire whole.
• It may use an entire whole thing to represent a part of it.  
• It can use a word or phrase as a class that will express less or more than the word or phrase actually means.  
• It may use a group of things that refer to a larger group or use a large group to refer to a smaller group.  
• A synecdoche may also refer to an object by the material it is made from or refer to the contents in a container by the name of the container.  

Here are some examples:

·         The word “bread” can be used to represent food in general or money (e.g. he is the breadwinner; music is my bread and butter). 

·         The word “sails” is often used to refer to a whole ship.

·         The phrase "hired hands" can be used to refer to workmen.

·         The word "head" refers to cattle.

·         The word "wheels" refers to a vehicle.

·         At the Olympics, you will hear that the United States won a gold medal in an event. That actually means a team from the United States, not the country as a whole.  

·         If “the world” is not treating you well, that would not be the entire world but just a part of it that you've encountered.

·         The word "society" is often used to refer to high society or the social elite.

·         The word "police" can be used to represent only one or a few police officers.

·         The "pentagon" can refer to a few decision-making generals.

·         "Capitol Hill" refers to both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.  

The Differences between metonymy and synecdoche

Synecdoche refers to the whole of a thing by the name of any one of its parts. For example, calling a car “wheels” is a synecdoche because a part of a car “wheels” stands for the whole car. However, in metonymy, the word we use to describe another thing is closely linked to that particular thing, but is not necessarily a part of it. For example, “crown” that refers to power or authority is a metonymy used to replace the word “king” or “queen”.