Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion

This chapter details figures. Heinrichs notes that “figures help you become more adept at wordplay; they make clichés seem clever, and can lend rhythm and spice to a conversation” (230). More importantly, they help with persuasion. There are three categories of figures: figures of speech, figures of thought, and tropes. Heinrichs devotes Chapter 20 to the first two figures; Chapter 21 covers tropes.

Figures of speech intentionally deviate from a word or phrase’s common definition through wordplay, sound, substitution, and repetition. An idiom, which combines words to form a single meaning, is one of the most common figures of speech. Examples of idioms include: “break bread,” “Greek to me,” “foggiest notion,” “I’m in a pickle,” and “a grain of salt.” Idioms can help one learn more about their conversation partner. For example, if an individual “suggests you ‘break bread’ together” (233), they are likely Christian as this expression is common in Christianity. A persuader can also transform an idiom by switching words around. Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde famously coined, “Work is the curse of the drinking classes” (236)—a play on “drink is the curse of the working classes.