When someone talks about Hollywood or Wall Street, they’re probably not talking about a California city or a Manhattan street. It’s an example of what rhetoricians call metonymy. Metonyms like the White House or Downing Street are often used as substitutes for a group of people or an industry. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Metonymy”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Stephan Lombard. I’m calling from Portland, Oregon.
Hi, Stephan. Welcome to the program.
Hi, Stephan.
Thank you. So I have a question for you.
Words like Hollywood, Wall Street, Downing Street, place names.
They’re place names first, but they also are used in reference to people or things that go on there.
So in the news they say, meanwhile, on Wall Street, they’re not talking about the street itself.
They’re talking about the financial sector.
Right.
And so I know there’s a name for that kind of thing, but I don’t know what it is.
And I’d also like to know if you guys have some other examples.
Well, Stephan, the word you want for that is metonymy.
Metonymy?
Yeah.
M-E-T-O-N-Y-M-Y.
Metonymy.
And that’s from Greek words that literally mean change of name.
The nim in there is like synonym and antonym.
Metonymy.
And that’s for words like the White House, for example.
The White House said this or that.
Well, it wasn’t the house itself, right?
Or the Pentagon, for example.
Or maybe even the Oval Office, right?
It’s something that substitutes for the actual thing.
It substitutes for the larger whole, right?
Right.
Instead of saying all the financial businesses in the United States have reported their numbers, you say Wall Street quarterly reports have just come in.
We can blame Hollywood for this.
Well, we’re not blaming the city.
We’re blaming the movie industry.
Or even it goes other directions as well.
We can talk about on Main Street, they feel like this is a good move for the government.
So Main Street stands in for your average American.
Or in the U.K., you might say on High Street.
The High Street has a different opinion than the pundits do, right?
Yes.
Okay.
So those are all metonyms.
Yes.
Metonyms.
Wonderful. Wonderful.
How will you go forth and use this, Stephan?
You know, I have no idea.
That’s what we like to hear.
Like most of the obscure word usage things, I can’t ever think of a practical use for them, but it’s nice to know.
That’s why we exist.
Thanks, Stephan.
Thank you very much.
Bye-bye. Take care.
Bye.
Bye.
