From my files, this nice metonymic find (from Ashley Parker, “The Real World 44”, NYT Magazine 5/2/10):
Losing Edward M. Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat to Scott Brown – and with it, the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority – was a blow. “There was a big sense of loss when Massachusetts happened, “ [special assistant to Barack Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod, Eric] Lesser says.
Lots of similar examples, including many for “when the World Trade Center happened”, for instance:
Do you remember where you were when the World Trade Center happened? (link)
Such examples refer to an event via a reference to the place where the event happened.
September 27, 2011 at 12:34 pm |
Remember Pearl Harbor!
Remember The Maine!
Etc!
December 22, 2011 at 12:50 am |
I cannot find out why the town in Massachusetts, now called Arlington was first known by the name Metonymy. Does anyone know?
December 22, 2011 at 7:35 am |
On the chance that this is a genuine comment and not just spam, I’ll bite: The original name was not Metonymy, but Menotomy. From the Wikipedia entry: