What are the skills of metonymy?

Metonymy, also known as substitution and renaming, refers to borrowing things that are closely related to people or things, rather than directly saying the real names of people or things to be expressed. The use of metonymy can make the language vivid and concise, make people have imagination and association, and get a clear and profound impression.

There are many ways of metonymy, mainly the following:

Feature generation ontology.

The substitution of features for noumenon is to replace the name of a person or thing with the image features of the person or thing. For example:

During the Dali period of the Tang Dynasty, there was a man named Feng Xile in Jingzhou. This man has no talent, but he is good at flattery and deception.

One day, he went to visit the county magistrate of Changlin County and flattered him. The county magistrate quickly ordered his entourage to hold a banquet to entertain him. When asked, Feng Xile touted the county magistrate and said, "My Lord, you taught Rende in Changlinguang, and even the tigers and wolves were moved out of here ..." Before the words were finished, someone reported to the county magistrate, "Last night, a spot in Shannan Village ate people."

Hearing this report, the county magistrate asked Feng Xile, "Sir, the tigers and wolves have all left here. Why did the tiger eat people again? " Feng Xile said, "This place must have passed here temporarily."

Because tigers have stripes, according to this feature, people use "boards" instead of "tigers". This is called "characteristic generation ontology", also called "border generation".

Concrete is abstract.

Concrete instead of abstract means replacing abstract things with concrete things. Please look down-

There is a family where father and son live together. One day, my father was going out. When he left, he told his son, "After I leave, you stay at home and watch the door." The son readily agreed.

After the father left, the son stared at the door, afraid to be distracted, for fear that the door would not look good. Soon, there was a song from the village office. He wants to see it, but he still has to watch the door at home. Later, he had a brainwave, removed the gate, carried it on his shoulder, and went to the theatre. Who knows, while he was watching the play, a group of thieves entered his house and looted everything in the house.

When the father came home, he was furious and reprimanded his son and said, "Didn't I tell you to watch the door?" How did you lose everything? "Son wronged him and said:

"How can you blame me? Isn't the door here? "

The "door" of "guarding the door" that my father said means "guarding the house". Because the silly boy didn't understand this, he struggled to carry the door, but he still lost everything at home.

Part generates the whole.

Replacing the whole with parts means replacing the name of the whole thing with the most meaningful and representative parts. There is such a story:

One day shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, was in a sudden mood. He called the court painter Zhou and ordered him to draw a huge "map of the world" on the wall of the hall at once.

After hearing this, Zhou thought: How can such a big country be represented by only one painting? Besides, I don't like the emperor when I write it. I'm afraid my head will move. So he came forward to apologize and said, "I am a scholar and have never traveled all over Kyushu." I really dare not send a letter. " I dare ask your majesty to start the imperial brush and outline the scale of this painting so that I can polish it a little. "

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw that what he said was reasonable, he immediately raised the imperial pen, swish swish, and drew a rough outline of a map of the world on the wall. Later, he said to Zhou Xuanwu, "I have made a sketch, please touch it up!" "

Zhou looked at the sketch, and then began to say, "Your majesty's country has been decided, and it can't be changed!" "

This pun made Zhu Yuanzhang very happy, rewarded Zhou with three hundred and twenty pieces of silver and gave up painting.

Why did Zhu Yuanzhang's words "The Jiangshan is set" make him beaming, but he was relieved? It turns out that this is a pun. On the surface, it means that this "map of the world" was drawn by your majesty, and I can't change it; The deeper meaning is: your majesty's regime is already very stable, and no one can shake it. Zhu Yuanzhang is an extremely clever man and naturally understands Zhou Xuansuo's intention of politely refusing. But this profound meaning can cater to Zhu Yuanzhang's psychology and make him feel sweet. So, instead of blaming Zhou, he made an exception and rewarded him.

So, what is the relationship between "Jiangshan" and "political power"? It turns out that this is a rhetorical device of metonymy. "Jiangshan" is the abbreviation of rivers and mountains. People use it to refer to all national territories, that is, to replace the whole with parts; To occupy territory and rule the country is to master political power. Therefore, borrowing "Jiangshan" to refer to state power is concrete rather than abstract.

Proper name is a generic term.

Proper name is a generic term, that is, the proper name of a representative person or thing is used to replace the noumenon thing. For example:

On a bus, a young man sat in the "special seat for the elderly, the weak and the sick". When the bus arrived at the next stop, a pale middle-aged woman came over with a child about three years old in her arms. The child was so crowded that he burst into tears, but the young man turned a blind eye and turned a deaf ear and sat there like no one was watching.

An old man couldn't stand it anymore and said to the young man, "Can you learn from Lei Feng and give your seat to this lesbian?" The young man gave the old man a white look, ignored the quarrel and continued to sit there. At this time, a middle-aged man with glasses sighed: "Well, Uncle Lei Feng is gone!" "

The former "Lei Feng" is a proper noun, and the latter "Uncle Lei Feng is gone" means "Lei Feng spirit has disappeared".

Metonymy is a common rhetorical method. Using it well can not only make the language "abstract into concrete, plain into magic, straightforward into twists and turns, trivial into simple, superficial into profound, and enhance the ideological depth and artistic charm of the language", but also arouse people's association and deepen people's feelings.