A rhetorical device I used last weekend is lie. Lie means “a
deliberate attempt to mislead without the prior consent of the target.” I
preordered a video game at GameStop a few weeks ago. However, I found a cheaper
deal online after that so I bought the game online. When I returned it at
GameStop, the staff kept asking me “Why are you cancelling your order?” For
some reason, I did not want to tell him I bought it at elsewhere, so I lied to
him and said that one of my friend gave a copy of the video game to me. Therefore,
I wanted to cancel it. I mislead the sale representative by making up a reason
to cancel the order. Thus, that is a lie.
Another rhetorical device I used is hyperbole. Hyperbole
defined as a method to overstate and amplify. When I was convincing my mum to
buy me an iPhone 5 two weeks ago, I said that my phone does not work anymore
and did not worth to fix it as it would cause so much to repair it. I
exaggerated the cost to repair my old phone, and that is hyperbole.
Hello Adrian
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I would have probably lied to Game Stop too, had I found a cheaper one online. It is not that we want to lie, it’s the fact we do not want to have to explain ourselves and go through the trouble, and so for that I am with you on that. I feel like when we hear the word “lie” it is assumed to be a negative thing. My belief is that lying can be okay, if it does not hurt the other person and in this case, it does not matter what you could have told the people at Game Stop. Let’s face it, everyone does it.
I have definitely lied before as well. Who hasn’t? (As sad that may sound). I had the same situation when I bought a pair of jeans at this one store. I returned them because it was quite pricey and I also found cheaper pairs somewhere else. So, I returned it and I told them it just did not fit me right. I also use hyperbole sometimes when I’m describing things or telling a story or when I am complaining about school or work. I’ve never thought of using such “lies” or “exaggerations” as rhetorical devices and I find it interesting how much we all use them.
ReplyDeleteI really like the two rhetorical devices you used because everyone uses them. I know many people that have lied to GameStop before because it's just easier to lie than to explain the reasoning why. Besides, sometimes when you actually tell the truth about why you don't want a certain item from a store, they don't let you return it because you've opened it already or something. Hyperboles are used every day, without people noticing it. For example, when you're telling a story to a friend describing how many bees there were when you were jogging around the block, a person would most likely exaggerate and say something like, "there were a million bees!"
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian Yan,
ReplyDeleteI know how easy it is to lie to the GameStop employees because a cheaper deal was found; I am also sometimes like that. I don't like telling employees that I don't like an item because I found a cheaper one, but I think that they would understand because they are people as well. I'm sure that they have encountered a moment in life where they don't like the things they buy. I work as a SA and I can definitely tell when people are lying about why they want to return something because, well, I'd feel the exact same way! I would rather them just tell the truth and skip all the crap. Good job at using examples that we can all relate to!
I definitely understand how easy it is to lie or exaggerate when dealing with something that isn’t really critical. I think most would agree that, a small lie, if it doesn’t really hurt anyone, is acceptable in most circumstances. Although, when confronted with the opportunity to lie, there is rarely enough time to discern whether or not your lie is going to help someone. There have been times in which I told what seemed a small lie in the heat of the moment and found later that it had expanded and spread into something that was out of my control.
ReplyDeleteI too understand how easy it is to lie. Most people probably don't even think about it when they lie to someone else. People will use that specific rhetorical device to mislead other people and deceive them in some way. As Aaron stated, it's very easy for a lie to grow into something that you didn't intend it to be. For the aspect of hyperbole, you nailed the definition. It's really easy to exaggerate things for some reason. Everyone uses hyperbole all the time without even knowing. In addition, your experiences and situations were good for these rhetorical devices. I was able to see the devices right away through your examples.
ReplyDeleteAdrian,
ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me about my white lies that I told last week. I also lied to my mom about my IPhone 4 not working anymore and I needed the new IPhone 5. I’m not eligible for an upgrade yet so I needed to pay full price for the new IPhone. After telling my mom that my phone did not work, she ended up surprising me and preordered the phone for me. I feel bad that she dropped that much money on a phone but that’s lying gets you. So don’t feel so bad about returning your game because you saved money instead of overspending on your video game.
I like your example of hyperbole and it is similar in one of my cases before. I was trying to ask for a new computer and persuading my parents to buy me a new one. What I said is “my computer turns off once I turn it on. I can’t do my homework at all.” However, the truth is it was too slow and took forever to load a webpage. I also exaggerated to cost to repair my old computer like you exaggerated the cost to repair your old phone. I think this is funny that we use rhetorical device to help us to get what we want in our lives. And in fact, rhetorical devices can really affect the whole incident.
ReplyDelete