we use the word "suits" to refer to policemen.
What is the word that describes this action? I had read this word in the book "HHhH", but for the life of me, I can't seem to recall it...
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1Who uses the word "suits" to refer to policemen? – Kit Z. Fox Jan 03 '13 at 15:58
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3"Suits instead of officials is metonymy". – RegDwigнt Jan 03 '13 at 16:04
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@MSPune: What part of the English-speaking world do you hail from? I don't hear suits = police being used in the UK, where suits are normally bankers, senior corporate managers and others whose primary allegiance is to Mammon, rather than to human creativity. – FumbleFingers Jan 03 '13 at 17:18
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Metonymy (“The use of a single characteristic or name of an object to identify an entire object or related object”) is one such word – as I now see RegDwighт pointed out a half hour ago.
James Waldby - jwpat7
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+1, just so. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/metonymy gives similar examples, as “scepter” for “sovereignty,” or “the bottle” for “strong drink,” or “count heads (or noses)” for “count people.” – rajah9 Jan 03 '13 at 17:02
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