Talk:Catachresis

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I think this is more an example of definitions shifting over time than of a deliberate out-of-context use of the word "nimrod". I've added examples for two of the senses from Shakespeare. The other two remain as yet unexampled... --Ptomato 02:05, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

+ I met a girl from San Francisco who talked about a venue having a "righteous" sound-system, which seems a good example as it yokes together concepts usually distinct (virtue & party). But doesn't a huge amount of fiction rely on catachresis anyway? Eliot's admonition to "dislocate language into meaning" instructs writers to harness words in new ways to avoid sterile repetition and vivify meaning. [User: Benek]

Leave Shakespeare alone! Rintrah 02:10, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Would one of my favourite quotes from Futurama be a good example of catachresis: "If we can hit the bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate." - Zapp Branigan

My dictionary says examples of a catachresis would be crayfish, and causeway.

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[edit] The Hamlet quotation

To take arms against a sea of troubles is likely a deliberate catachresis, or perhaps not even one at all: Hamlet is talking about futility. Faced with a sea of troubles, taking up a sword and shield is not going to have an effect on the wave that's about to hit you, and the character knows this. It's a straightforward metaphor (not even a mixed metaphor) disguised as a catachresis, I feel. UrbaneLegend 13:25, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Except that the full quote is 'To take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them'. Hence Hamlet is of the opinion that taking up arms will, in fact, have an effect on the sea of troubles, illogical as this is. I think this is a very good example for this page, though the mixed metaphor has a deeper meaning. Certainly we are to understand that suicide is as peculiar a way of dealing with problems as attacking the sea with a sword would be; but nonetheless Hamlet wishes us to believe that it would be an effective technique, even if the modalities are, by use of a mixed metaphor, deliberately obscured. In this sense it is an unsatisfactory metaphor, and is better considered as catachresis. Happydemic 15:21, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Irony and ironic

This word is misused alot. Should we include this word? Like in Alannis Morrisette's Isn't It Ironic, most things she mentions isn't ironic at all. ie. Rain on your wedding day, It's a black fly in your Chardonnay, It's a free ride when you've already paid, It's the good advice that you just didn't take Azn Clayjar 04:31, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Shakespeare

Doesn't the article imply that Shakespeare is misusing language? Rintrah 15:20, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Superlatives

One frequently encounters misuse of superlatives, e.g., "most unique", "fairly unique", "sort of dead", etc. Shouldn't at least one of these be included in the article as an example of catachresis? —QuicksilverT @ 22:16, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Table leg

I don't think this is a good example at all. There are certain core words we learn as infants that sometimes take on a false standing in our view of how words actually function. A young child is quite convinced that a leg is a part of the human body, regardless of whether there is also a much broader conception of leg outside of that context. A far better example would be an "arm of an institution", and I'm not even sure that doesn't have its own context. Institutions also have "branches", but note that the word branch is not corporeal to begin with. If we weren't so anthrocentric, we could refer to fingers as branches of the hand. So how is it that leg is corporeal rather than "something to stand on" in which case a table leg is as good a leg as any? Anthrobias, if you ask me. Interesting that an arch with two ends is not referred to as having legs, because there needs to be some criteria to decide where the legs end and what the legs support begins. I can open up my pocket knife and support it on the tips of three blades. Are those legs? Borderline. If it stands poorly, one might say "one of your 'legs' is too short" raising the eyebrows at legs. However, if I took two such pocket knives and put a small board across them to make a mini sawhorse, the sawhorse improvisation would definitely have six blades for legs. MaxEnt 12:24, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Literal meaning of the word catachresis (Ancient Greek: κατάχρησις; Modern Greek: κατάχρηση)

The word is derived from the Ancient Greek verb καταχρῶμαι (Modern Greek: καταχρώμαι - commonly misspelled as καταχράζομαι), which means to use something in excess; derivative uses also mean "abuse," "overdose" or "overindulgence" (for example, κατάχρηση ναρκωτικών ουσιών means "drug abuse"), etc.

While it is possible to use the word to refer to improper use of the word (as overuse can lead to misuse), it does not mean that. RaspK FOG 22:36, 29 July 2007 (UTC)