NP; Good as Gold: rhetorical questions

[Jochen Stremmel]

In my book the "I" of Lieberman's answer to his question is italicized. So
there would be many doves answering: Then let's stop doing this. If that
question is rhetorical, then only in combination with Lieberman's answer.
It doesn't stand alone as rhetorical question. In combination with the
answer you could call it rhetorical. The rhetoric question in the classical
sense doesn't need an answer. The answer goes without saying.

Am Mo., 7. Jan. 2019 um 01:43 Uhr schrieb Mike Jing <
gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:

> According to the OED:
>
> *rhetorical*, adj
> 4. Designating a question asked only to produce an effect or make a
> statement, rather than to elicit an answer or information. Chiefly in *rhetorical
> question*.
>
> It may not be as effective as Cicero, but it does seem to fit the
> definition.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 6, 2019 at 5:19 PM Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> The question Lieberman reads – has written before he utters the maxim "No
>> more rhetorical questions" – is not rhetorical, at least not as rhetorical
>> as the famous one of Cicero »Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia
>> nostra?« or Does the Pope shit in the woods? or this one from around 1970:
>> Does Rose Kennedy own a black dress? It has indeed several possible answers.
>>
>> And if it were a rhetorical question, directly answered by the
>> questioner, the combination would be called Dialektikon. But that is not
>> the case here.
>>
>>
>> Am So., 6. Jan. 2019 um 21:00 Uhr schrieb Mike Jing <
>> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> I should have mentioned that in the book, Lieberman was characterized as
>>> a
>>> poor writer who overly relies on rhetorical questions. So I thought this
>>> was an obvious joke on him. The problem is that the common Chinese
>>> translation of the term "rhetorical question" doesn't seem to include
>>> cases
>>> such as these, thus ruining the joke.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jan 5, 2019 at 7:03 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Thanks for the reply. The reason why I asked was that there are two
>>> ways
>>> > to translate the term "rhetorical question" into Chinese and one of
>>> them
>>> > does not include the case in this passage. I guess that's what people
>>> > conventionally mean by rhetorical question, as you have mentioned,
>>> which
>>> > does not include hypophora. In any case, I thought there was a joke in
>>> > there, and also later where Lieberman changed the title of one of
>>> Gold's
>>> > articles into a long-winded (rhetorical?) question.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On Sat, Jan 5, 2019 at 6:34 PM <protomen at protonmail.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> It is a question and it is rhetorical, so there's at least a minor
>>> joke
>>> >> in there, though I don't believe that's what people conventionally
>>> mean by
>>> >> rhetorical question nowadays. See "hypophora".
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>>> >> On Saturday, January 5, 2019 5:39 AM, Mike Jing <
>>> >> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >> > Just to make sure I got this right. In the following passage,
>>> Lieberman
>>> >> > first says "No more rhetorical questions", then immediately proves
>>> >> himself
>>> >> > wrong by using a rhetorical question in his own article. Is that
>>> >> correct?
>>> >> >
>>> >> > Producing from somewhere inside his soiled and rumpled clothing a
>>> copy
>>> >> of
>>> >> > the next issue of his magazine, he swept open the pages until he at
>>> last
>>> >> > found the one he wanted, his regular feature boldly headlined “An
>>> >> Outspoken
>>> >> > Editor Speaks His Mind, by M. G. Lieberman, Editor.” “Listen to what
>>> >> I’ve
>>> >> > got coming up,” he cried with excitement and prepared to read. “No
>>> more
>>> >> > rhetorical questions,” he exclaimed and began, “‘What, then, shall
>>> we
>>> >> say
>>> >> > to those who argue this may lead us into war? I say, unflinchingly,
>>> then
>>> >> > let us have war.’ How’s that? I express nothing but opprobrium and
>>> scorn
>>> >> > for the failure of nerve of all the members of the cowardly Eastern
>>> >> liberal
>>> >> > establishment. That’s a phrase,” he could not hold himself back from
>>> >> > footnoting, “I got from Henry Kissinger.”
>>> >> >
>>> >> >
>>> >>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> >> >
>>> >> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> --
>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>
>>