# What is the name of this rhetorical device? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391 "2015-01-20T16:38:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/1 "2015-01-20T16:38:09Z")
A person from Southlandia says: ‘It’s uncanny how one can tell a Northlander’s statement – always condescending, never brings facts to the table, and using epithets like “Goonface”.’ The person from Northlandia replies: ‘It’s uncanny how one can tell a Southlander’s statement – always disagreeable, never brings facts to the table, and the only one in the conversation who uses insulting terms like “Goonface”.’ That is, someone makes a statement disparaging someone else. The target of the statement uses the person’s own words and sentence structure against him, changing only details for refutation. What is the name of this rhetorical device? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/2 "2015-01-20T16:44:32Z")
Turning the tables? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/3 "2015-01-20T18:01:20Z")
That’s it? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/4 "2015-01-20T18:15:46Z")
It’s similar to an _ad hominem_ informal fallacy. Instead of refuting someone’s statement logically by offering evidence and arguments that it isn’t true, you point out that the speaker does not live in accordance with the statement. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/5 "2015-01-20T18:32:22Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > It’s similar to an _ad hominem_ informal fallacy. Instead of refuting someone’s statement logically by offering evidence and arguments that it isn’t true, you point out that the speaker does not live in accordance with the statement. It sounds like _tu quoque_. But I think of a ‘you too’ response as more like this [finding an example on the web]: Peter: “Based on the arguments I have presented, it is evident that it is morally wrong to use animals for food or clothing.” Bill: “But you are wearing a leather jacket and you have a roast beef sandwich in your hand! How can you say that using animals for food and clothing is wrong!” In that example, Peter thinks it’s wrong to use animals for food and clothing, and Bill points out that Peter eats meat and wears leather. In the example in the OP, Southlander ascribes certain things to Northlanders. Northlander uses Southlander’s _own sentence structure_ to point out _different_ things that show that Southlander is making an _ad hominem_ attack and to effectively say, ‘You are incorrect. Your statement shows that you are belligerent, are ignorant of the facts in the argument, and ascribe a specific behaviour to your opponents that only you have engaged in.’ So it does sound like an _ad hominem tu quoque_, but the actual construction seems like it should have a specific name. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/6 "2015-01-20T18:42:45Z")
From Ambrose Bierce’s _Devil’s Dictionary_: > [@](#): > > **DENY** , \*v.t. \*See HURL BACK THE ALLEGATION. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/7 "2015-01-21T04:16:50Z")
“Hoisted by his own petard”. [Cecil has a column on it.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/260/whats-a-petard-as-in-hoist-by-his-own) ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/8 "2015-01-21T05:51:45Z")
It’s sort of a form of [metastasis](http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/M/metastasis.htm). It does seem like there ought to be a particular term for the parallel substitution, whether as an argument, or to evoke another speaker’s phrasing, or for humor. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/9 "2015-01-21T14:23:37Z")
The “I am rubber you are glue” riposte, it drives home the point that the dialog has descended to kindergarten level already. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/10 "2015-01-22T01:44:36Z")
I think it’s more of: “I know you are but what am I?”- my immediate go-to rebuttal when accused of being immature. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-rhetorical-device/710391/11 "2015-01-22T02:17:37Z")
Maybe a kind of parallelism? Mesarchia - The repetition of the same word or words at the beginning and middle of successive sentences. Parody? Mockery? Peripeteia?