Metalepsis
Pattern
A→B→C — chained figurative substitution
Definition
A figure in which a word or phrase is substituted through a chain of associations — a metonymy of a metonymy — creating layered indirection.
Examples
Example 1
He has too many summers behind him to start over.
"Summers" stands for years (metonymy), which stands for age — a double substitution characteristic of metalepsis
Example 2
She picked up the thread of the conversation.
"Thread" is metaphorical for a line of thought, which is itself a metaphor for the logical structure of discourse — a layered chain of association
Example 3
The fall of Troy echoes through the marble halls of Washington.
Troy (historical catastrophe) references political hubris; marble halls reference the government — multiple figurative leaps from literal meaning
AI Detection Note
Very rare in AI text. Metalepsis requires the reader to trace multiple associative leaps, and LLMs tend toward direct reference rather than layered indirection.
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