FIGURES OF SPEECH

We unconsciously use a lot of figures of speech when we speak.
In Spanish and English they are plenty of them.
Some figures of speech are very cool.
Here I’m writing some examples: palindromes, limerick and jokes.

Palindrome:

Greeks invented palindromes. Palindromes are words you can read from the beginning to the end in the same way as from the end to the beginning. These are some examples in English and in other languages:
Spanish:

“Nada, yo soy Adán”
English:

Madam, I'm Adam (Señora, soy Adán)
Madam, in Eden I'm Adam (Señora, en el Edén soy Adán).
A man, a plan, a canal: Panama! (Un hombre, un plan, un canal: ¡Panamá).
Satán oscillate my metallic sonatas.
Latin:

“In girum imus nucte et consumimur igni” (damos vueltas en la noche y somos consumidas por el fuego… ¿qué es? Es la antorcha)
French:

“Éspoe reste ici et se repose”(Esopo se queda aquí y descansa)
Greek:

“Νίψον ανομήματα, μη μόναν όψιν (Lavad vuestros pecados, no solo vuestra cara).

Limerick:
It is a type of poetry that has got this structure:
1st verse: it presents the protagonist.

2nd verse: Protagonist´s characteristics.

3rd and 4th verse: protagonist´s adventures.

5th verse: the end.

Some examples of limericks are:

• "There was an old man of Devizes
  Whose ears were of different sizes
  The one that was a small
  Was of no use at all
  But the other won several prizes."

• "There was a young man from Bengal.
  Who went to a fancy-dress ball
  He went just for fun
  Dressed up as a bun
  And a dog ate him up in the hall."

Jokes: They’re short texts to cause laughter. They don't always rhyme.


KAMILA NOTARIO (2ºESO-B)