Figures of Speech Served Fresh

Figure of Speech:  periergia (per-ee-ER-gia), the figure of over-figuring.

When you hear what something is "really about," prepare to be spun.  Congress is slamming Google, whose motto is "Don’t be evil," for helping the Chinese government censor websites.  There’s only one thing a company can do in such a crisis of democracy:  hire lobbyists.

Mr. Davidson describes Google’s effort — most notably a boatload of cash for members of Congress — as nothing less than the next phase in human evolution.  He drips figures like a Gucci-shod Jackson Pollack: an agenda staked out like a mining claim, an "open" Internet with welcoming arms, a revolution, a platform (see mining claim).  The result is a periergia ("overworked"), the grandiose overuse of figures.

Snappy Answer:  "Do the parties accept PayPal?"