Anacoluthon

Anacoluthon

During my recent visit with my brother in Atlanta, he introduced me to a new word/concept; “Anacoluthon”.

He described it as the literary use of sentences with persistent, consistent changes in directions, and the use of phrases that seemingly do not logically follow.  I accepted it as a “stream of thought/consciousness” approach to capturing thoughts, while also admitting to myself that I enjoy the stand-up comedy of the late Mitch Hedberg.  And so this had some attraction to me as a new blogger, as I thought it might be a useful, informal (and now, literarily endorsed) method of capturing some of my thoughts.

But a quick reference to my readily available dictionary kind of deflated my enthusiasm, as it defines “Anacoluthon” as:

“An abrupt change within a sentence to a second grammatical construction inconsistent with the first, sometimes used for rhetorical effect, for example, ‘I warned him that if he continues to drink, what will become of him?’”

So maybe, in a strict sense, there’s more to the concept than I thought at the time, but that will probably not stop my efforts.  Prepare yourself for some Anacoluthic Ramblings…

• My daughter explained her recent meeting with Advisor Berger, and so I exclaimed, “Well done!   Getting to ‘meet’ with Dr. Burger is a rare opportunity.  Although much of what she has to offer is worthwhile, can I ask if the discussion turned cheesey?”
• The day after Thanksgiving, the family was discussing the remaining plans for the day when my youngest asked, “Did somebody say milk shake?”  Somebody, indeed had, and so straws were drawn.  The shakes were thick, but the straws were of thin diameter.  Although I can only say this with the certainty of Heisenberg, there were no Fat Bernoullies.
• John and Dennis stood watch all night, against pirates and giant squid.  They borrowed a ship from the Squid Monks, but without their knowledge or permission.  It was generally agreed, that John does look like a murderer.
• Another day at work, but nothing really got done.  Despite my every effort, nothing really got done.  A bunch of issues required my attention, but nothing really got done.  Much like “The Beachboy’s” use of “…now” to assure that every line rhymes, adoption of “but nothing really got done” almost guarantees an anacoluthic outcome!  But if anacoluthon is what you seek, why not use the endorsed “what will become of him?”  It’s a safe choice, and it alludes to a more dangerous outcome.
• We’re in-between soft-water and hard-water fishing seasons, and so any fans of Numenon must appreciate the anacoluthon.