Ok English and/or Literature majors! Question...

[tcsenter]

Its been too damned long since my literature and English courses. Not only have I forgotten what the hell stuff like imperfect participles are, but I am starting to get fuzzy on a few other things.

1. Red Herring
2. White Heron <--- or something like that
3. Straw Man

Could someone give me a refresher course on these three which might contrast/compare them? Illustrative examples are ALWAYS a bonus. Maybe there is a link out there which gives a mini-treatise on these writing/logic/argumentative types? Need a refresher. TIA!

 

[Zebo]

That's more intro to logic not english. And no.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

straw man:
Description of Straw Man
The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of "reasoning" has the following pattern:


Person A has position X.
Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of X).
Person B attacks position Y.
Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because attacking a distorted version of a position simply does not constitute an attack on the position itself. One might as well expect an attack on a poor drawing of a person to hurt the person.

 

[tcsenter]

That's more intro to logic not english. And no.

Well we covered them all in one advanced literature course I took, because we got to identify representatives in various writings and pick them apart for structure, logic, support, stuff like that. And thanks for your help.

On edit: And yes it was in high school. Had it been in college, I might have remembered it for another five or six years before it began to ooze out of the skull.

 

[deftron]

Red Herring = desperation attempt .. changing the subject to distract attention away from the issue. (Yes, that car is a peice of crap, but my friend had a car like that. He was a nice guy. We used to go fiishing.)

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

That's more intro to logic not english. And no.

Well we covered them all in one advanced literature course I took, because we got to identify representatives in various writings and pick them apart for structure, logic, support, stuff like that. And thanks for your help.

OK OK I found a good site which provides comparisons and examples you may find useful: (but it's all opinion and emotion anyway)

Red Herring
Strawman

White heron is a birdy in south america

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Many thanks to 0roo0roo for previously posting this primer on logical fallacies.

 

[tcsenter]

Many thanks to 0roo0roo for previously posting this primer on logical fallacies.

OMG that is perfect for the logical stuff. Thanks!

And thanks to the others for their contribution. Its all coming back....OK maybe not all of it.

 

[Moonbeam]

I get confused by synonyms and ad homonems because all the insults I get are perfect descriptions of the people who use them.

 

[tcsenter]

I get confused by synonyms and ad homonems because all the insults I get are perfect descriptions of the people who use them.

Moonbeam, what the hell you stuperrr...I mean...Hi Moonbean, nice to see you and thanks for making a contribution to my thread.

 

[linuxboy]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

I get confused by synonyms and ad homonems because all the insults I get are perfect descriptions of the people who use them.

Moonbeam, what the hell you stuperrr...I mean...Hi Moonbean, nice to see you and thanks for making a contribution to my thread.

Oh come on, look at the post.

He took your question, one about red herrings and straw mans and look at what he did:

ignored your actual question by addressing ad hominems and synonyms (the definition of straw man), thus morphing the initial query into something else, and then answering it.

He then proceeded to detract from the main issue and the question at hand by focusing attention on the idea that people who insult him are only self-referencing their own inadequecies, unable to come up with coherent and sound positions that withstand the scrutiny of a nobody (the definition of red herring).


There's the illustrative example for you, combined with a delicately crafted reference to projection and human folly. A tasty nibble of words.


Cheers !

 

[tcsenter]

There's the illustrative example for you, combined with a delicately crafted reference to projection and human folly. A tasty nibble of words.

Yes, thank you, I have never failed to 'get' Moonbeam's frequent puns and plays in threads, I just don't find them all that 'delicately crafted'. They often smack of someone who is just trying too hard. I get an occasional chuckle, a few have been little gems, but so much effort...

Cheers!

 

[linuxboy]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

There's the illustrative example for you, combined with a delicately crafted reference to projection and human folly. A tasty nibble of words.

Yes, thank you, I have never failed to 'get' Moonbeam's frequent puns and plays in threads, I just don't find them all that 'delicately crafted'. They often smack of someone who is just trying too hard. I get an occasional chuckle, a few have been little gems, but so much effort...

Cheers!

Oh. Eh, personal preference then.

Hope you got your answer.

Cheers !

 

[Zebo]

Moonbeam is genious I feel very intimidated by him.

 

[Moonbeam]

tcsenter, you are definitely worth all my hard hard work.

linuxboy, if it's true that a ship can't sail where the water's too shallow, than it's eqwually true that I''m like a ding(h)y in your ocean. You make me happy. Cheers to the nth.

And speaking of antonyms, it's time for a swig of port and and a morsel of starbird.

 

[Yossarian]

Communism was just a red herring...