The edifice metaphor is a commonplace in teaching the art of rhetoric. Techne, the Greek word for art, has been defined as "The kind of knowledge possessed by an expert maker; it gives him a clear conception of the why and wherefore, the how and the with what of the making process and enables him, through the capacity to offer a rational account of it, to preside over his activity with secure mastery" (Joseph Dunne, Back to the Rough Ground, p. 9). I like Dunne's definition because it evokes images of a master carpenter building a fine dwelling. Pondering the process of building a fine structure illumines the process of building a speech, and will also suggest some ways to utilize this Speech Builder's Emporium. Click here.