Dinkin Flicka

In Thank You for Arguing Heinrichs defines rhetorical figures and explains their accessibility for arguers. One may think that these are not very common in speech, but watching The Office I realized that they are much more common than I thought them to be. More specifically, figures of speech, figures of thought and tropes may make an arguer better to an audience. In The Office there is no direct arguing (or rather debate), but as a viewer one may sympathize more with a character's ethos depending on the figures that each uses. I was not expecting The Office or any show to have that many rhetorical figures since I had usually seen these in literature, but the episode "Casino Night" surprised me with a variety of idioms, clichés and twists. 

The first idiom that I identified was Michael's and Daryl's "dinkin flicka". Michael suggests to Darryl that he may steal company property because he is Black, to which Darryl responds saying "Cause' I'm from the hood" (note another idiom) and there Michael says, "dinkin flicka". Darryl then privately told the cameras that this expression was something "us negroes say". One may interpret it similarly to "C'est la vie" or "that's life". This idiom builds on Michael's reputation as a racist person since he implies that Darryl, a black man, will unavoidably steal. Besides being a totally erroneous stereotype, it does not argue a point and it rather defines Michael's character. To many, he is funny and appealing. I will not deny that I laughed a lot watching this episode.

The most striking figure I encountered was the surprise ending, which is actually new to me. Heinrich explains that to use it one should "concede your opponent's cliché and then mess it up deliberately": exactly what Stan, a disheartened employe, does to Michael, his boss. Michael does a casino night for his employees and as he wishes them luck he invents the idiom "Lady fortune is your boss", to which Stan responds with, "Will lady fortune give me a raise?". Stan's twist surprised both the audience and his opponent (Michael) and he immediately won the argument: Michael's response was "shush". Besides twisting the ending, Stan's response was also a rhetorical question. He suggested there was no fortune that he could get working at Dunder Mifflin. As a viewer I know that Stan is right and he won the argument, but at the same time this (again) builds on Michael's character: his invented idioms and his irresponsibility is quite funny. Apparently figures are everywhere. Besides, seeing them in The Office, my favorite comedy show, makes me realize how present rhetoric is around me.