Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion

by Jay Heinrichs

The Romans were using the “But wait, there’s more” pitch a couple of millennia before infomercials. They gave it a delectable name: dirimens copulatio, meaning “a joining that interrupts.” It’s a form of amplification, an essential rhetorical tactic that turns up the volume as you speak. In a presentation, you can amplify by layering your points: “Not only do we have this, but we also…”