Periphrasis (per-if'-ra-sis)

Periphrasis is just like a metaphor (You are saying X is Y), but you use a proper noun instead of a common noun. (And remember that a "proper noun" refers to a specific or unique person, place, or thing. A proper noun is always capitalized.)

Put yet another way, use a proper name of a person, place, or thing as a shorthand to stand for qualities associated with the person, place, or thing you're trying to describe. For example, "My brother is a whale" is a metaphor. "My brother is an orca" is a metaphor. "My brother is Free Willey" is periphrasis. Consider a couple more: "My sister is a railroad spike" is a metaphor. "My sister is the Golden Spike" is periphrasis. Or, "This class is like a prison" is a simile. "This class is a prison" is a metaphor. "This class is Alcatraz" is periphrasis.

Consider a few more examples of periphrasis:

1. 1. "She's no Halle Berry to look at, but she's no Porky the Pig either."
      

   2. 
      

   3. "Hey, Judas. Thanks for keeping your promise."
      

   4. 
      

   5. "Dick Cheney has become less like Agent 007 and more like Dr. Strangelove."
      

   6. 
      

   7. "Mr. Abercombie and Fitch doesn't want to come with us."
      

2. 
   

In each example a noun works figuratively or metaphorically. "She is no Halle Berry" is an economical and visually interesting way to say, "She is not beautiful, inviting, thin, and healthy." Saying "Judas" is a clever way to say, "Hey, you coward-who-betrays-his-friends-for-small-useless-sums-of- money."

Periphrasis works with places and objects, too.

1. 1. "My play is a new Hamlet." "Grand Junction is a modern day Florence, but Mesa State College is not quite the Harvard of the west."
      

   2. 
      

   3. In sum...
      

   4. "He looks like a beached whale" and "He is as fat as a beached whale" are similes.
      

   5. "He is a beached whale" is a metaphor. (You don't use "like" or "as.")
      

   6. "Look at Shamu over there!" is a periphrasis (It's a metaphor that uses a proper noun. It's not just any old whale. It's Shamu, a particular whale.)