Even if you pride yourself on being plainspoken or delivering a direct message, figures of speech are likely sprinkled throughout your conversations. The words “metonymy” and “metalepsis” may sound intimidating, but you’ve probably been using these poetic devices in your personal lexicon without even knowing it.
Metonymy is “the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant.” Like many terms that describe linguistic elements, “metonymy” comes from Greek — metōnumia translates to “change of name.” Think about how often people say “Hollywood” to refer to the entire film industry, whether or not a movie was filmed in the very small Hollywood neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles. Even a movie production based in Atlanta is part of Hollywood, in the sense of the industry.
Another common metonymic word is “crown.” Literally, it’s what a monarch wears on their head, but we also use the word to refer to a monarchy in general. Netflix’s hit show The Crown, for example, focuses first on the life of Queen Elizabeth II, but also incorporates the lives and experiences of her siblings, children, and family members.
On the other hand, metalepsis (from the Greek for “substitution”) is when “one thing refers to another thing that is only slightly related to it,” or substituting an unrelated term for the original concept. When I get obsessed with a new fantasy book series and spend days researching fan theories, I might use the metaleptic phrase “falling down the rabbit hole” to explain my obsession. I’m not physically going anywhere when I’m in a fandom rabbit hole, and I’m not actually reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (where the “rabbit hole” reference comes from), but the metalepsis helps me effectively communicate how much a new fixation has taken over my life.
Using a figure of speech that falls into the category of metonymy or metalepsis is like calling in a talented understudy on a night the star can’t perform — the audience will appreciate the great performance from the word you choose to use in place of the original concept.
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