A synecdoche is a rhetorical device by which a part of something actually refers to the whole. An everyday example of synecdoche is using “boots” to mean military forces. When one is concerned about “boots on the ground” it does not mean that the image in the graphic above disturbs them but rather the prospect of stationing soldiers in some particular place.
Is it possible that putatively literate people do not understand this device?
Not grasping synecdoche or metonymy in everyday language sounds a thought experiment in philosophy–like being able to grasp everything about ‘red’ except the qualia of red’s redness.
‘sounds like’
Yes, to avoid conceding a point in debate, or otherwise losing face.
Is it possible? Oh, quite. I don’t mean that nominally literate people will be unable to use a phrase such as “boots on the ground” or fail to understand its real-world meaning, but I doubt that most people consciously understand that such phrases are creatures of rhetoric and that they could deliberately craft such phrases themselves. Instead, they — we — pick up such phrases and use them casually. Boots on the ground; the whole ball of wax; movers and shakers; Occupy Wall Street; rednecks; antifa … we don’t need dictionary definitions of these concepts. We know what they mean, more or less; the people we speak to will recognize them; we slap these phrases down in our conversations like a construction worker slaps down bricks and slathers on mortar.
And perhaps it should be this way. Yes, it’d be awesome if large numbers of Americans mastered the techniques of rhetoric and took to speaking like Winston Churchill. Other hand … would it actually be comfortable to be surrounded by masters of oratory ready to drop speeches — stirring, memorable, important speeches — on us at the drop of a hat?
Perhaps our lazy casual approach to language is sufficient. We do all right, after all. “The orange-haired one” probably communicates something to most folks here. Ditto for “selfie” and “barrista” and “swipe right” and “anti-malware” and “the Davis-Bacon Act” and “fake news” and …. you get the idea (which ought to be “You get the idea.”)