Page 358 - Gabrijela Kišiček and Igor Ž. Žagar (eds.), What do we know about the world? Rhetorical and argumentative perspectives, Digital Library, Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana 2013
P. 358
What Do We Know about the World?
phorically created antonomasias (Barakude, Kauboji and Furija) make
one third of the list, which again shows how a relatively small number of
metaphor-based headwords is frequently used in sports discourse. These
three examples confirm the dominance of the concept sport is war/
battle/fight in the creation of typical metaphorical antonomasias
and this could be the second explanation of the discrepancy between the
headwords and the tokens. An interesting coincidence is that these met-
aphoric antonomasias represent the three typical groups (predators, pro-
fessions, aggressive entities) discussed earlier in the paper.
Only one individual athlete came into the top 10 and that was the
ultimate fighter Mirko Filipović, worldwide known as Cro Cop. When
we compare this example with the other top 10 example Crveni vrago-
vi, it is easy to distinguish strict metonymically based antonomasia from
that of the combined type. Although both examples are phrases, Cro
Cop has both a metonymic head and a dependent (Mirko Filipović was
indeed member of Croatia’s Police Special Forces tactical unit), while
Crveni vragovi has a metaphoric head (Devils) and a metonymic part
(Red) corresponding to the kit color. All phrasal antonomasias require
both parts in order to become unambiguous substitutions of a certain
athlete, club or national team. The simple antonomasia Cop is uncertain
without its dependent part Cro; on the other hand, the “simple” antono-
masias Vragovi (Devils) or Crveni (The Reds) could be used as sports an-
tonomasias because both parts use metaphorical or metonymical con-
cepts typically used in the creation of sports antonomasias. A partial
confirmation of this theoretical possibility is found in the metonymical
“nickname” The Reds denoting Liverpool F. C., Benfica F. C., and Split
F. C., as it is their typical kit color.
This chart is also suitable for pointing out the most common sourc-
es of metonymic antonomasias. It is the kit color (The Whites, The Blues),
name of the club (Medvjedi = the Bears from the name of the hockey
club Medveščak11) or off-sport profession (Cro Cop). Beside these, there
are metonymic antonomasias whose source is the club or national team
emblem (The Hammers (West Ham F. C.), The Eagles (the Serbian na-
tional handball team)) or the sponsor (The Pharmacists (Bayer Leverkus-
en F. C. or Slaven Belupo F. C.)).
We have to mention that there were a few examples whose sourc-
es were very interesting, for instance Vučica = the She-Wolf (Roma
11 Name of the club comes from the name of a historical district in the city of Zagreb, and its etymol-
ogy is derived from the Croatian word medvjed (bear).
phorically created antonomasias (Barakude, Kauboji and Furija) make
one third of the list, which again shows how a relatively small number of
metaphor-based headwords is frequently used in sports discourse. These
three examples confirm the dominance of the concept sport is war/
battle/fight in the creation of typical metaphorical antonomasias
and this could be the second explanation of the discrepancy between the
headwords and the tokens. An interesting coincidence is that these met-
aphoric antonomasias represent the three typical groups (predators, pro-
fessions, aggressive entities) discussed earlier in the paper.
Only one individual athlete came into the top 10 and that was the
ultimate fighter Mirko Filipović, worldwide known as Cro Cop. When
we compare this example with the other top 10 example Crveni vrago-
vi, it is easy to distinguish strict metonymically based antonomasia from
that of the combined type. Although both examples are phrases, Cro
Cop has both a metonymic head and a dependent (Mirko Filipović was
indeed member of Croatia’s Police Special Forces tactical unit), while
Crveni vragovi has a metaphoric head (Devils) and a metonymic part
(Red) corresponding to the kit color. All phrasal antonomasias require
both parts in order to become unambiguous substitutions of a certain
athlete, club or national team. The simple antonomasia Cop is uncertain
without its dependent part Cro; on the other hand, the “simple” antono-
masias Vragovi (Devils) or Crveni (The Reds) could be used as sports an-
tonomasias because both parts use metaphorical or metonymical con-
cepts typically used in the creation of sports antonomasias. A partial
confirmation of this theoretical possibility is found in the metonymical
“nickname” The Reds denoting Liverpool F. C., Benfica F. C., and Split
F. C., as it is their typical kit color.
This chart is also suitable for pointing out the most common sourc-
es of metonymic antonomasias. It is the kit color (The Whites, The Blues),
name of the club (Medvjedi = the Bears from the name of the hockey
club Medveščak11) or off-sport profession (Cro Cop). Beside these, there
are metonymic antonomasias whose source is the club or national team
emblem (The Hammers (West Ham F. C.), The Eagles (the Serbian na-
tional handball team)) or the sponsor (The Pharmacists (Bayer Leverkus-
en F. C. or Slaven Belupo F. C.)).
We have to mention that there were a few examples whose sourc-
es were very interesting, for instance Vučica = the She-Wolf (Roma
11 Name of the club comes from the name of a historical district in the city of Zagreb, and its etymol-
ogy is derived from the Croatian word medvjed (bear).
