CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
Anti-prosopopoeia (1815) is being against figures of speech in which an abstract thing is personified or an absent or imaginary person is represented as speaking.
"When parents name a boy William Slavens McNutt he can do nothing less than live up to his name and be a natural born story teller." From Hearst's International, 1922.
"Who the ___ is the Prince of Good Fellows?" From 1905.Speaking of which, what exactly are a snowball's chances in hell? See A Snowball's Chance in Hell.
"Am I going to marry my affinity, madam?" "Maybe you are, miss; but your first marriage will be to a husband." From Cariacture, Wit and Humor of a Nation in Picture, Song and Story, 1911.