#DefineRhetoric

We're delighted to share the results of our Twitter challenge to #DefineRhetoric. Since April, friends of Harlot have generously created, collected, and tweeted their favorite versions of the always-disputed definitions of rhetoric, that harlot of the arts. Many thanks to everyone who got involved! There were so many great contributions that we can't list them all here, but we wanted to share some of the wealth of honorable mentions as well as the winners. As you can see, the results are varied and awesome. We picked our favorites—let us know yours!

And the Contenders (in no particular order)

Rhetoric is a selection and deflection of reality. (Inspired by Burke.) @cdmandrews

“Listen to me!” says my niece while holding my face in her hands. @denisejeannee

The Borg had it all wrong. Resistance is rhetoric. @LouFisto

Rhetoric is like the moon. It is, at present, synchronously oriented to the rotation of another body around which it orbits. @Schmeggelz

Rhetoric is discourse in lingerie. @soundb0mb3r

Rhetoric isn't what you thought it was. @TheOriginalRock

Rhetoric is a pun on causality. @postsilence

Rhetoric: Don’t get it wet or feed it after midnight. @LouFisto

Rhetoric = Wearing too much eyeliner after he leaves you. @donorahillard

Rhetoric is a bag of Halloween candy, sometimes you get the good stuff and sometimes you get apples with razor blades. @TheOriginalRock

The role of rhetoric is convincing people of the truth so they can dismiss their ignorance. @TheOriginalRock

#definerhetoric: utterly the bass line in Lou Reed’s “Walk On the Wild Side.” Tonight anyway @thatssomcginnis

Rhetoric is the realization you just got bamboozled, outwitted, or amazed—or all three at the same time @TheOriginalRock

“Nothing about this cigarette, packaging, or color should be interpreted to mean safer.” @donorahillard

Rhetoric is figuring out how to use Twitter without looking like a "digital immigrant." @TheOriginalRock

Rhetoric depends on how close you pay attention to what was said. @TheOriginalRock

Eventually someone will come who understands @donorahillard

The role of rhetoric is convincing people of the truth so they can dismiss their ignorance. @TheOriginalRock

Rhetoric is what you said vs. what they heard. @TheOriginalRock

So it’s basically me screaming “Black Cream” into a little box all day long @donorahillard

Rhetoric is I know you are but what am I @OccupyRhetoric

Rhetoric: what is used when truth is on your side, against it or simply at stake @occupyrhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of spackling enthymemes @postsilence

Rhetoric is the selection and deflection of reality (inspired by burke)@cmandrews

"The entire range of resources that human beings share for producing effects on one another"- wayne c. booth @cmandrews

"Listen to me!" says my niece while holding my face in her hands. @denisejeannee

Rhetoric isn’t @dianekeeling

Rhetoric is necessarily strange. It is the sharing of unfamiliar thoughts from foreign bodies. All else is choir-preaching. @jimmy_butts

“well that depends…who’s asking?” @occupyrhetoric

Gesturing towards (or directly upon) an object so as to turn another’s gaze upon it. Like you would if you saw a(n) ____. @occupyrhetoric

Rhetoric is something that is really hard to understand when you come in with a set definition, agenda, or perspective. @TheOriginalRock

Rhetoric is a fancy label for the process and consequences of naming and framing reality. @anokaydane

#DefineRhetoric is an act of rhetoric itself, defined through action. Rhetoric outside of action is like Latin, dead on arrival. @plcorbett

Rhetoric can be the sun that takes away the fog, or it can be the fog... @TheOriginalRock

Rhetoric asks you, "How do YOU define rheoric?" @TheOriginalRock

Rhetoric is the difference between preventing war and preparing for war. @TheOriginalRock

Rhetoric is how you scare the crap out of people to make them do certain things or vote certain ways. @TheOriginalRock

μια ικανότητα που σε κάθε περίπτωση για να δείτε τα διαθέσιμα μέσα της πειθούς #AristotlewasaThoughtNinja @anokaydane

"'rhetoric' is at once an embedded cultural practice and an inventive attitude" #DanielGross @anokaydane

Rhetoric is the thing your mother warned you about... and she was right! @TheOriginalRock

People try to control it, people try to mis-define it, people try to rewrap it, but few actually understand it. @TheOriginalRock

Rhetoric is knowing the power and the pain of words. @TheOriginalRock

Thanks for playing! Chime in below if you have additions, revisions, objections, etc. And stay tuned for next year's rematch...