Sep 142007
Heh: Yes, you too can learn rhetoric from the master, Homer Simpson. My favorite, on rhetorical questions:
Mother Simpson: [singing] How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?
Homer: Seven.
Lisa: No, dad, it’s a rhetorical question.
Homer: OK, eight.
Lisa: Dad, do you even know what “rhetorical” means?
Homer: Do I know what “rhetorical” means?
I have a strict policy on rhetorical questions in student papers: I categorically forbid them. Otherwise, students tend to write long sequences of rhetorical questions that hint at some objection without ever clearly stating it. And really, who wouldn’t find that aggravating?
