Metonymy

[LauraM]

What is a metonymy?  It's a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is a stand-in for another.  It's easier to see this through examples from sentences. 

A famous metonymy is "The pen is mightier than the sword."  Both "pen" and "sword" are examples, as both are stand-ins: 

Pen =  the written word

Sword = military force

A metonymy is often used when referring to a government or a representative of a government or any kind of organization or institution.

The White House = the people who work there, i.e. the U.S. President and officials.

"The White House issued an official statement."

So therefore:

"The State Department warns against travel to that region."

"Several countries around the world are under the British crown."

Here are other examples of the use of metonymy.

"Hollywood has influenced pop culture for decades."  Hollywood = movies or the movie industry

"Since childhood, she knew she was bound for Broadway."  Broadway = theater

Can you think of some other examples?

[linguaholic]

Great thread, thank you Laura!

Metonymy:

I would like to add some classic examples:

1. A: What are you reading at the moment?  B: I am reading Harry Potter.

2. I would like to order a glass of wine.

Explanation of Examples (Metonomy)

In the first sentence, person B answers with "I am reading Harry Potter". As person B is actually reading A BOOK called Harry Potter and not Harry Potter itself, this is an example for Metonomy. So, Harry Potter stands for the Harry Potter Book Series.

In the second sentence, "I would like to drink a glass of wine", the person would like to drink some wine, however he/she does generally not want to drink the GLASS. The glass of wine stands for the content here, so this is metonymy as well.

Definitions of Metonymy:

A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty").

"Metonymy is a he rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it, as in describing someone's clothing to characterize the individual. Adjective: metonymic."

-->Source of the definitions: grammar.about.com

[Daedalus]

I'd never heard of this before, it's quite interesting.

Would you say 'pen' and 'sword' in 'the pen is mightier than the sword' are metaphors? Can they be both metaphor and metonym?

I've been trying to think of more examples. Could you say a phrase like 'my computer is rendering a video' fits in this category? After all, it is not the entire computer doing the work, it's a combination of program and CPU, but many parts are doing nothing to contribute. And the video is actually just a collection of 1s and 0s, stored in a certain electronic way on a drive, which when decoded correctly is a sequence of images.

One can get quite technical with this.

[LauraM]

I'd never heard of this before, it's quite interesting.

Would you say 'pen' and 'sword' in 'the pen is mightier than the sword' are metaphors? Can they be both metaphor and metonym?

I've been trying to think of more examples. Could you say a phrase like 'my computer is rendering a video' fits in this category? After all, it is not the entire computer doing the work, it's a combination of program and CPU, but many parts are doing nothing to contribute. And the video is actually just a collection of 1s and 0s, stored in a certain electronic way on a drive, which when decoded correctly is a sequence of images.

One can get quite technical with this.

Yes, I think what's interesting is how frequently we use metonymic expressions in daily life.  They are everywhere!

Your example is a metonymy -- "My computer is rendering a video."  Yes, just as you said "computer" = the specific programs that are doing the rendering. 

The difference between a metaphor and a metonymy is that a metaphor draws a comparison between two concepts.  So if you were to say "The pen was my sword" that would be a metaphor.

But a metonymy is the substitution of a word for something else.  A word becomes a representation of another word. 

Thus when we say "The pen is mightier than the sword" the "pen" represents the written word and the "sword" represents war or military intervention.

It's easier to see this through examples.  For instance, at a restaurant we wind up using a lot of metonymic expressions.

If we get a free meal, we say "it was on the house," meaning the restaurant pays for it.

Instead of saying a meal, we might say a "dish."

So in another example,  the "house specialty" is a "dish" (meal) that the restaurant (house) is known for. 

If you're drinking coffee, you might tell the waiter, "I'll have another cup."  Cup = coffee.

So there are lots of these in many circumstances in our lives. 

[zambothegreat]

I recently learned about metonymy in my Creative Writing class. I knew what it was essentially, but learning what it is specifically is obviously better. Here are a couple of examples:

Can you give me a hand with this? - hand means help

Class, I need all of your ears. - to pay attention

Your mom is a real cougar, Bill. - cougar is an attractive older woman

[Rosa]

Here in my country, all powdered detergents are called Fab and all diapers are called Pampers, I  guess this would be recognized as metonym.