What is your favorite stylistic device and your most hated stylistic device?

[HungrySheep]

The dog do walk tho.

 

[Voidiris]

The dog do walk tho.

Yes, but it's still a personification and I hate this fact. Something about it really annoys me.

 

[RynnTheTired]

Every time we use a verb on a non human it's technically a personification. That means that "the dog walks" "the plant grows" "the water flows" "the sun shines" are personification.

Uh...no. That's not what personification is. Those are literal descriptions. Dogs do, in fact, walk. Plants do, in fact, grow.

Personification is when you ascribe human actions or feelings to a non-human thing that isn't actually capable of those actions or feelings. It's a type of metaphor.

"The sun shines." = Not personification. The sun actually does shine. (This actually can't be personification because humans don't shine.)
"The sun smiled kindly down on the meadow below." = Personification. The sun doesn't literally smile and isn't capable of feeling kindness (as far as we know).

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

Every time we use a verb on a non human it's technically a personification. That means that "the dog walks" "the plant grows" "the water flows" "the sun shines"

What?

I thought...

And

So...

Every time we use a verb on a non human it's technically a personification.

???

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

What?

I thought...

And

So...


???

I was thinking the same thing. I am glad you pointed it out, and speaking of which I love personification!

 

[Voidiris]

Uh...no. That's not what personification is. Those are literal descriptions. Dogs do, in fact, walk. Plants do, in fact, grow.

Personification is when you ascribe human actions or feelings to a non-human thing that isn't actually capable of those actions or feelings. It's a type of metaphor.

"The sun shines." = Not personification. The sun actually does shine. (This actually can't be personification because humans don't shine.)
"The sun smiled kindly down on the meadow below." = Personification. The sun doesn't literally smile and isn't capable of feeling kindness (as far as we know).

What?

I thought...

And

So...


???

...
......
............
*punches the wall*
Please tell that my german teacher, I tried to convince him but he convinced me by saying that it's a over interpretation of the personification and I didn't even check other sources, so I was just now quite inane.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

...
......
............
*punches the wall*
Please tell that my german teacher, I tried to convince him but he convinced me by saying that it's a over interpretation of the personification and I didn't even check other sources, so I was just now quite inane.

Some teachers hate being wrong. I learned after I corrected teachers to never do it again when I got hit with the stare of death.

 

[Voidiris]

Some teachers hate being wrong. I learned after I corrected teachers to never do it again when I got hit with the stare of death.

That reminds me of the time a teacher screamed at me for having a different opinion. My main class teacher even warned me of german teacher because they have too much pride, but he is okay with criticism, the funniest thing about him is that he is narcissistic and he has every right to be narcissistic.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

That reminds me of the time a teacher screamed at me for having a different opinion. My main class teacher even warned me of german teacher because they have too much pride, but he is okay with criticism, the funniest thing about him is that he is narcissistic and he has every right to be narcissistic.

I don't think anybody really has a 'right to be narcissistic', but I do understand it to an extent. And for some people they are worse off because they don't feel compassion.

 

[John_Owl]

My favorite stylistic device is the hyperbole because exaggeration is quite fun.

My most hated stylistic device is the personification, why because it's dump. Every time we use a verb on a non human it's technically a personification. That means that "the dog walks" "the plant grows" "the water flows" "the sun shines" are personification. yes, I created the threat to rant about personifications but to my defense there is no threat about stylistic devices here (that I found).

i'm a bit confused... the definition of personification is attributing human-like qualities to inanimate objects or abstractions. simply "the noun verbs" shouldn't be, as that's like, 95% of all sentences. stating that a dog is doing a verb that a dog is capable of doing without adding human-like qualities to it is personification, how?

I mean, would you say "The dog breathed" or "the dog lived" or "the dog existed" were also personification? if so, then nothing outside of humans exist outside of personification. which would make it the standard, and *us* the oddities in need of classification as a device, wouldn't it? or is there another definition aside from webster's that I'm unaware of?

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

I love personification!

I also, but I use it sparingly, to describe a colourful room I once wrote.
"It was as if a paint store walked in and threw up on everything. "

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

I also, but I use it sparingly, to describe a colourful room I once wrote.
"It was as if a paint store walked in and threw up on everything. "

I love stuff like that. Of course, everything is better off if used sparingly. Anything can become dry if you use it too much.

 

[Voidiris]

i'm a bit confused... the definition of personification is attributing human-like qualities to inanimate objects or abstractions. simply "the noun verbs" shouldn't be, as that's like, 95% of all sentences. stating that a dog is doing a verb that a dog is capable of doing without adding human-like qualities to it is personification, how?

I mean, would you say "The dog breathed" or "the dog lived" or "the dog existed" were also personification? if so, then nothing outside of humans exist outside of personification. which would make it the standard, and *us* the oddities in need of classification as a device, wouldn't it? or is there another definition aside from webster's that I'm unaware of?

It was the fault of me and an inane teacher, read the comments above yours.

 

[RynnTheTired]

It was the fault of me and an inane teacher, read the comments above yours.

Is it possible that the terms they use in German don't quite line up with how they're used in English? Not like teachers never flat-out get things wrong, of course. But...you know...trying to give people the benefit of the doubt and all....

Either way, I wouldn't say it's your fault.



And to actually answer the original question, I guess I like simile the best. It's definitely the one I use the most. But for some reason, I mostly don't like outright metaphors, including personification.

 

[K5Rakitan]

I'm polyamorous, so I don't have just one favorite.

 

[John_Owl]

It was the fault of me and an inane teacher, read the comments above yours.

lol my bad. I got distracted writing the comment, so I didn't see it when I posted the comment.

 

[Voidiris]

But...you know...trying to give people the benefit of the doubt and all....

I don't give people the benefit of the doubt, especially when it's this obvious.

Either way, I wouldn't say it's your fault.

Both me and my teacher are at fault for this situation. There is never only one reason why something happened.

lol my bad. I got distracted writing the comment, so I didn't see it when I posted the comment.

Happens.

 

[CubicleHermit]

I also, but I use it sparingly, to describe a colourful room I once wrote.
"It was as if a paint store walked in and threw up on everything. "

That reminds me of one of my favorite opening lines of a book:
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."
(Neuromancer, by William Gibson before he got completely weird.)

I'm not sure that description works anymore for people who are too young to remember analog broadcast TV, but when I was about 12 (in the late 1980s) it really stuck with me.

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

William Gibson before he got completely weird.

He did? I had no idea, I just remember studying his works at uni and how he coined several SF concepts that later became real things.

 

[CubicleHermit]

He did? I had no idea, I just remember studying his works at uni and how he coined several SF concepts that later became real things.

I don't mean personally, but his later books felt a lot more experimental, and not in ways that worked well for me.

If you ever want to be mindblown about "That got written when?" read The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner. It doesn't have Gibson's sense of style, but it talks about the surveillance state, computers, and hacking in ways that are amazing for something published in 1975 (almost a decade before Neuromancer.)

Brunner had his weird books, too, of course.