Granny: Master rhetorician

There are few examples of really fine persuasive rhetoric out there which are short, impactful, and easily comprehensible. I would love to use this with my students, but it's far too personal. You'll see.

Granny: I have a question for you. [See how she starts out right away with audience engagement?]
Me: Okay, what?
Granny: Are you pregnant? [Here is an "attention-getting opener" if I ever saw one. It brings up a number of questions for the audience, not least of which is "Can she see how fat I've gotten through the phone?"]
Me: What? No!
Granny: Why not? [Brilliant, because it is surprising and throws me off guard. It immediately puts the listener on the defense. We also now have an implied thesis, which is "you should get pregnant."]
Me: Well, it's just... we have a small house, so it's hard.
Granny: No it isn't. [Now, to an outsider, this has little credibility. It sounds like the ineffective arguer from the Monty Python sketch. However, this brief statement actually contains both logos (logically, it isn't that hard to raise two children in a three-bedroom house) and ethos (from an I-know-what-I'm-talking-about standpoint, Grandma herself raised five kids in a three-bedroom house).]
Me: Yes, well. I guess you did it, huh?
Granny: Yes, I did. Plus, Zadie would love to have a little brother or sister. [And, if you were waiting for pathos, here it is. I always tell my kids that the most frequent use of pathos in political ads, charitable giving campaigns, etc. is "Think of the children!" And here it is - think of poor, lonely Z.]

And there, in a few easy steps, we got logos, ethos, pathos, and an attention-grabbing opener. I think she may have had a strong conclusion as well, but I was too busy banging my head quietly into a wall to notice.