Semantic Transparency, Moses Illusion, and Singular "They": There's a Name for It (#21)

In our extensive Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms, you'll find a name for . . .

• the deliberate misspelling, respelling, or non-standard alternative spelling of words: allegro speech


• the phenomenon whereby readers or listeners fail to recognize an inaccuracy in a text: Moses illusion


• speech that repeats, in whole or in part, what has just been said by another speaker: echo utterance


• the use of the pronoun they, them, or their to refer to a singular noun: singular "they"


• the degree to which the meaning of a compound word or an idiom can be inferred from its parts: semantic transparency


• the four figures of speech that are regarded as the basic rhetorical structures by which we make sense of experience: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony: master tropes


• a statement (or a series of statements) that balances one idea with a contrasting idea: dirimens copulatio


• the use of foreign words and expressions, usually as an affectation or for humorous effect: soraismus

More Words About Words:

• Sluicing, Diazeugma, and Telicity (#20)
• Bloviation, Bicapitalization, and Invariant Be (#19)
• Word Words, Paraprosdokian, and Restaurantese (#18)

Image: allegro speech in the advertising slogan of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain