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"accumulation"

From Richard Nordquist,
Your Guide to Grammar & Composition.
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Definition:

Figure of speech in which a speaker or a writer gathers scattered points and lists them together.

Etymology:

From the Latin, "pile up, heap"

Examples:

  • "Emptiness, everything is emptiness. What do people gain from all the work they do under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, yet the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and rushes back again to the place from which it rises. The wind blows south, then returns to the north, round and round goes the wind, on its rounds it circulates. All streams flow to the sea, yet the sea does not fill up. All matters are tiring, more than anyone can express. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What is is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. There is nothing new under the sun."
    (Ecclesiastes, The Old Testament)


  • "I don't know how to manage my time; he does. . . .
    I don't know how to dance and he does.
    I don't know how to type and he does.
    I don't know how to drive. . . .
    I don't know how to sing and he does."
    (Natalia Ginzburg, "He and I")


  • "I’m a modern man, digital and smoke-free;
    a man for the millennium.

    A diversified, multi-cultural, post-modern deconstructionist;
    politically, anatomically and ecologically incorrect.

    I’ve been uplinked and downloaded,
    I’ve been inputted and outsourced.
    I know the upside of downsizing,
    I know the downside of upgrading.

    I’m a high-tech low-life.
    a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art,
    bi-coastal multi-tasker,
    and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.

    I’m new-wave, but I’m old-school;
    and my inner child is outward bound.
    I’m a hot-wired, heat-seeking,
    warm-hearted cool customer;
    voice-activated and biodegradable. . . ."
    (George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?)
Audio LinkPronunciation: ah-kyoom-you-LAY-shun
Also Known As: accumulatio, congeries
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