What the hell are consonance, dissonance, and cacophony?

[Brittomart]

This is in the Books section 'cause it's literary related...sorta.

Okay, so when I was in high school, we had the vocabulary lists. In two of my english classes those three words were "talked about," but I still have no idea what they mean. I know what the definition says, but no one explained to me exactly what it means as it pertains to writing. Whenever I asked, the teacher just repeated the definition, and it's like, "Okay, so you really don't know either, right?"

There are a lot of teachers here, so...could you teach me these three terms?

[RandomAnthony]

They're fun words. Work them into conversation today.

[Félix]

My cognitive dissonance produces a cacophony in my head. Or do I have that backwards?

[[deleted user]]

Larry wrote: "My cognitive dissonance produces a cacophony in my head. Or do I have that backwards?"

I just blew a fuse in my mind!

[[deleted user]]

Barb wrote: "Jim "I just blew a fuse in my mind!"

That must be what I just heard."

If it was a loud echoey POP then it was.

[Félix]

[Sally, la reina]

BunWat wrote: "Consonance is the effect produced by a grouping of sounds or tones that are in harmony and sound nice together. Also by extension groupings of other sorts, ideas, people, words, although the prima..."

**stares dreamily at Bun**

[Cosmic Sher]

I love saying all those words. When I was little I heard the word cacophony and sang it all the time. I had no idea what it meant, it just was fun to say.

[Polstar]

I thought they were the names of Chris Martin and Gwenyth Paltrow's babies.

[Cynthia]

My college French teacher told us a good story about words that are fun to say. He was living in France next door to a French-American couple with a 4-year-old boy. One day Professor Valentin saw this little boy spinning like a dervish in his yard and repeating "Pass Gas! Pass Gas! Pass Gas!" He was wildly amused by the sound of the words (and probably, since he was a small boy, by farts.)

[RandomAnthony]

Polstar wrote: "I thought they were the names of Chris Martin and Gwenyth Paltrow's babies."

Heh. I have an unreasonably hatred of both Coldplay and Gweneth Paltrow...

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

Coldplay is pretty terrible.

[Brittomart]

Hey, I went through a Coldplay phase...

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

As long as you came out safely on the other side...

[Cynthia]

Feh. I love Coldplay. I fell for them while watching the movie "Young At Heart." A group of seniors sings their song "Fix You."

Chris can have my babies any day. Wait. Reverse that.

[Polstar]

RandomAnthony wrote: "Polstar wrote: "I thought they were the names of Chris Martin and Gwenyth Paltrow's babies."

Heh. I have an unreasonably hatred of both Coldplay and Gweneth Paltrow..."

I think my hatred of them is perfectly reasonable ;)

Bland and boring.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I don't pay any attention whatsoever to Coldplay. As for Gwyneth, I sometimes go over to Gawker to see what mean things they are saying about her...she is vile and she cannot act (those aren't the mean things).