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It goes without saying that writers are drawn to language, but because we love words so much, the English language is filled with word play. By interrogating the complexities of language—homophones, homographs, words with multiple meanings, sentence structures, etc.—writers can explore new possibilities in their work through a play on words.

It’s easiest to employ word play in poetry, given how many linguistic possibilities there are in poetry that are harder to achieve in prose. Nonetheless, the devices listed in this article apply to writers of all genres, styles, and forms of writing.

After examining different word play examples—such as portmanteaus, malapropisms, and oxymorons—we’ll look at opportunities for how these devices can propel your writing. But first, let’s establish what we mean when we’re talking about a play on words.

Wordplay Definition

Word play, also written as wordplay, word-play, or a play on words, is when a writer experiments with the sound, meaning, and/or construction of words to produce new and interesting meanings. In other words, the writer is twisting language to say something unexpected, with the intent of entertaining or provoking the reader.

Wordplay definition: Experimentation with the sounds, definitions, and/or constructions of words to produce new and interesting meanings.

It should come as no surprise that many word play examples were written by Shakespeare. One such example comes from Hamlet. Some time after Polonius is killed, Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, asks him where Polonius is. The below exchange occurs:

The line “Not where he eats, but where he is eaten” is a play on words, drawing the audience’s attention to Polonius’ death. He is not eating, but being consumed by the worms. This play on the meaning of “eat” utilizes the verb’s multiple definitions—to consume versus to decompose. (It is also an example of synchysis, and of polyptoton, a type of repetition device.)

The most common of word play examples is the pun. A pun directly plays with the sounds and meanings of words to create new and surprising sentences. For example, “The incredulous cat said you’ve got to be kitten me right meow!” puns on the words “kidding” (kitten) and “now” (meow).

To learn more about puns, check out our article on Pun Examples in Literature. Some of the play on words examples in this article can also count as puns, but because we’ve covered puns in a previous blog, this article covers different and surprising possibilities for twisting and torturing language.

Examples of a Play on Words: 10 Literary Devices

Word play isn’t just a way to have fun with language, it’s also a means of creating new and surprising meanings. By experimenting with the possibilities of sound and meaning, writers can create new ideas that traditional language fails to encompass.

Let’s see word play in action. The following examples of a play on words all come from published works of literature.

1. Word Play Examples: Anthimeria

Anthimeria is a type of word play in which a word is employed using a different part of speech than what is typically associated with that word. (For reference, the parts of speech are: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, articles, interjections, conjunctions, and prepositions.)

Most commonly, a writer using anthimeria will make a verb a noun (nominalization), or make a noun a verb (verbification). It would be much harder to employ this device using other parts of speech: using an adjective as a pronoun, for example, would be difficult to read, even for the reader familiar with anthimeria.

Here are some word play examples using anthimeria:

Nouns to Verbs

The word “peace” is being used as a verb, meaning “to calm down.” Many anthimeria examples come to us from Shakespare, in part because of his genius with language, and in part because he needed to use certain words that would preserve the meter of his verse.

Of course, “unhair” isn’t a word at all. But, it’s using “hair” as a verb, and then using the opposite of that verb, to express scalping someone’s hair off.

Shakespeare is using “scarf” as a verb, meaning “to wrap around.” Nowadays, the use of “scarf” as a verb is recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary, but at the time, this was a very new usage of the word.

Verbs to Nouns

It’s difficult to find examples of nominalization in literature, mostly because it’s not a wise decision in terms of writing style. Verbs are the strongest parts of speech: they provide the action of your sentences, and can also provide necessary description and characterization in far fewer words than nouns and adjectives can. Using a verb as a noun only hampers the power of that verb.

Nonetheless, we use verbs as nouns all the time in everyday conversation. If you “hashtag” something on social media, you’re using the noun hashtag as a verb. Or, if you “need a good drink,” you’re noun-ing the verb “drink.” Often, nouns become acceptable dictionary entries for verbs because of the repeated use of nominalizations in everyday speech.

Nouns and Verbs to Adjectives

The words “gossipest, poachest, jailest” might seem silly or immature. But, they’re fun and striking uses of language, and they help characterize Mrs. Day through dialogue.

“I’ll get you, my pretty.”

—From The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

By using the adjective “pretty” as a noun, the witch’s use of anthimeria in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz strikes a chilling note: it’s both pejorative and suggests that the witch could own Dorothy’s beauty.

Anthimeria isn’t just a form of language play, it’s also a means of forging neologisms, which eventually enter the English lexicon. Many words began as anthimerias. For example, the word “typing” used to be a new word, as people didn’t “employ type” until the invention of typing devices, like typewriters. The word “ceiling” comes from an antiquated word “ceil,” meaning sky: “ceiling” means to cover over something, and that verb eventually became the noun we use today.

2. Word Play Examples: Double Entendre

A double entendre is a form of word play in which a word or phrase is used ambiguously, meaning the reader can interpret it in multiple ways. A double entendre usually has a literal meaning and a figurative meaning, with both meanings interacting with each other in some surprising or unusual way.

In everyday speech, the double entendre is often employed sexually. Indeed, writers often use the device lasciviously, and bawdry bards like Shakespeare won’t hesitate when it comes to dirty jokes.

Nonetheless, here a few examples of double entendre that are a little more PG:

The repeated use of “institution” suggests a double meaning. While marriage is, literally, an institution, West is also suggesting that marriage is an institution in a different sense—like a prison or a psychiatric hospital, one that she’s not ready to commit to.

In Homer’s Odyssey, the hero, Odysseus, tells the cyclops Polyphemus that his name is “no man.” Then, when Odysseus blinds Polyphemus, the cyclops is enraged and tells people that “no man” did this, suggesting that his blindness is an affliction from the gods. In this instance, Polyphemus means one thing but communicates another, causing humorous ambiguity for the audience.

In Oscar Wilde’s play, the protagonist Jack Worthing leads a double life: to his lover in the countryside, he’s Jack, while he’s Ernest to his lover in the city. The play follows this character’s deceptions, as well as his realization of the necessity of being true to himself. Thus, in this final line of the play, Jack realizes the importance of being “earnest,” a pun and double entendre on “Ernest.”

3. Word Play Examples: Kenning

The kenning is a type of metaphor that was popular among medieval poets. It is a phrase, usually two nouns, that describes something figuratively, often using words only somewhat related to the object being described.

If you’ve read Beowulf, you’ve seen the kenning in action—and you know that, in translation, some kennings are easier understood than others. For example, the ocean is often described as the “whale path,” which makes sense. But a dragon is described as a “mound keeper,” and if you don’t know that dragons in literature tend to hoard piles of gold, it might be harder to understand this kenning.

A kenning is constructed with a “base word” and a “determinant.” The base word has a metaphoric relationship with the object being described, and the determinant modifies the base word. So, in the kenning “whale path,” the “path” is the base word, as it’s a metaphor for the sea. “Whale” acts as a determinant, cluing the reader towards the water.

The kenning is a play on words because it uses marginally related nouns to describe things in new and exciting language. Here are a few examples:

Kenning In Beowulf

At some point in the text of Beowulf, the following kennings occur:

• Battle shirt — armor
• Battle sweat — blood
• Earth hall — burial mound
• Helmet bearer  — warrior
• Raven harvest — corpse
• Ring giver — king
• Sail road  — the sea
• Sea cloth — sail
• Sky candle — the sun
• Sword sleep — death

Don’t be too surprised by all of the references to fighting and death. Most of Beowulf is a series of battles, and given that the story developed across centuries of Old English, much of the epic poem explores God, glory, and victory.

Kenning Elsewhere in Literature

The majority of kennings come from Old English poetry, though some contemporary poets also employ the device in their work. Here are a few more kenning word play examples.

“The Wanderer” is a poem anonymously written and preserved in a codex called The Exeter Book, a manuscript from the late 900s. It contains approximately ⅙ of the Old English poetry we know about today. In this poem, an “earth-stepper” is a person, and a “wealth-chamber” is the wanderer’s mind or heart—wherever it is that he stores his immaterial virtues.

Ian Crockatt is a contemporary poet and translator from Scotland, and his work with Old Norse poetry certainly influences his own poems. “Sea wolf” is a kenning for “sailor,” and a “love cry” is a love poem.

In this Frost sonnet, the speaker employs the kenning “petal-fall” to describe the autumn. The full text of the poem has been included, not for any particular reason, other than it’s simply a lovely, striking poem.

4. Word Play Examples: Malapropism

A malapropism is a device primarily used in dialogue. It is employed when the correct word in a sentence is replaced with a similar-sounding word or phrase that has an entirely different meaning.

For example, the word “assimilation” sounds a lot like the phrase “a simulation.” Employing a malapropism, I might have a character say “Everything is programmed. We all live in assimilation.”

For the most part, malapropisms are humorous examples of a play on words. They often make fun of people who use pretentious language to sound intelligent. But, in everyday speech, we probably employ more malapropisms than we think, so this device also emulates real speech.

The name “malapropism” comes from the play The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In it, the character Mrs. Malaprop often uses words with opposite meanings but similar sounds to the word she intends. Here’s an example from the play:

“He is the very pineapple of politeness!” (Instead of pinnacle.)

Malapropisms are also known as Dogberryisms (from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing), or as acyrologia. Though this word play device is employed humorously, it also demonstrates the complex relationship our brain has with language, and how easy it is to mix words up phonetically.

5. Word Play Examples: Metalepsis

Metalepsis is the use of a figure of speech in a new or surprising context, creating multiple layers of meaning. In other words, the writer takes a figure of speech and employs it metaphorically, using that figure of speech to reference something that is otherwise unspoken.

This is a tricky literary device to define, so let’s look at an example right away:

The expected phrase here would be “the blood from spilling.” But, in this excerpt, “life” replaces the word “blood.” The word life, then, becomes a metonymy for “blood,” and as this displacement occurs in the common phrase “spilled blood,” “life” becomes a metalepsis.

So, there are two layers of meaning going on here. One is the meaning derived from the phrase “spilled blood,” and the other comes from the use of “life” to represent “blood.” In any metalepsis, there are multiple layers of meaning occurring, as a metaphor or metonymy is employed to modify a figurative phrase, adding complexity to the phrase itself.

This is a tricky, advanced example of word play, and it primarily occurs in poetry. Here are a few other examples in literature:

Here, the face in question is that of Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world (according to The Iliad and the Odyssey). Helen is claimed by Paris, a prince of Troy, and when he takes Helen home with him, it incites the Trojan war—thus the references to a thousand ships and the towers of Ilium. So, the face refers to Helen, and Faustus describes the beauty of that face tangentially, referencing the magnitude of the Trojan War.

In this Biblical passage, the phrase “cleanness of teeth” is actually referencing hunger. By having nothing to eat, the people have nothing to stain their teeth with. Thus, the figurative image of clean teeth becomes a metalepsis for starvation.

This is a complex extended metaphor and metalepsis. Instead of saying “to the ends of time,” Shakespeare modifies this phrase to “the last syllable of recorded time.” He then extends this idea by saying that life is “a walking shadow, a poor player”—in other words, that which speaks the syllables of recorded time, and then never speaks again. By describing life as an idiot which signifies nothing, Macbeth is saying that life has no inherent value or meaning, and that all men are fools who exist at the whim of a random universe.

Note: this soliloquy arrives after the death of Macbeth’s wife, and it clues us towards Macbeth’s growing madness. So, yes, it’s a very dark passage, but dark for a reason.

To summarize: a metalepsis is a type of word play in which the writer describes something using a tangentially related image or figure of speech. It is, put most succinctly, a metonymy of a metonymy. There is also a narratological device called metalepsis, but it has nothing to do with this particular literary device.

6. Word Play Examples: Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a self-contradictory phrase. It is usually just two words long, with each word’s definition contrasting the other one’s, despite the apparent meaning of the words themselves. It is a play on words because opposing meanings are juxtaposed to form a new, seemingly-impossible idea.

A common example of this is the phrase “virtual reality.” Well, if it’s virtual, then it isn’t reality, just a simulation of a new reality. Nonetheless, we employ those words together all the time, and in fact, the juxtaposition of these incompatible terms creates a new, interesting meaning.

Oxymorons occur all the time in everyday speech. “Same difference,” “Only option,” “live recording,” and even the genre “magical realism.” In any of these examples, a new meaning forms from the placement of these incongruous words.

Here are a few examples from literature:

Note: an oxymoron is not self-negating, but self-contradictory. The use of opposing words should mean that each word cancels the other out, but in a good oxymoron, a new meaning is produced amidst the contradictions. So, you can’t just put two opposing words together: writing “the healthy sick man,” for example, doesn’t mean anything, unless maybe it’s placed into a very specific context. An oxymoron should produce new meaning on its own.

7. Word Play Examples: Palindrome

The palindrome is a word play device not often employed in literature, but it is language at its most entertaining, and can provide interesting challenges to the daring poet or storyteller.

A palindrome is a word or phrase that is spelled the exact same forwards and backwards (excluding spaces). The word “racecar,” for example, is spelled the same in both directions. So is the phrase “Able was I ere I saw Elba.” So is the sentence “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.”

The longer a palindrome gets, the less likely it is to make sense. Take, for example, the poem “Dammit I’m Mad” by Demetri Martin. It’s a perfect palindrome, but, although there are some striking examples of language (for example, “A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash”), much of the word choice is nonsensical.

Because of this, there are also palindromes that occur at the line-level. Meaning, the words cannot be read forwards and backwards, but the lines of a poem are the same forwards and backwards. The poem “Doppelganger” by James A. Lindon is an example.

Want to challenge yourself? Write a palindrome that tells a cohesive story. You’ll be playing with both the spellings of words and with the meanings that arise from unconventional word choice. Good luck!

8. Word Play Examples: Paraprosdokian

A paraprosdokian is a play on words where the writer diverts from the expected ending of a sentence. In other words, the writer starts a sentence with a predictable ending, but then supplies a new, unexpected ending that complicates the original meanings of the words and surprises the reader.

Here’s an example sentence: “Is there anything that mankind can’t accomplish? We’ve been to the moon, eradicated polio, and made grapes that taste like cotton candy.” This last clause is a paraprosdokian: the reader expects the list to contain great, life-altering achievements, but ending the list with something a bit more trivial, like cotton candy grapes, is a humorous and unexpected twist.

With the paraprosdokian, writers contort the expected endings of sentences to create surprising juxtapositions, playing with both words and sentence structures. Here are a few literary examples, with the paraprosdokian in bold:

9. Word Play Examples: Portmanteau

A portmanteau is a word which combines two distinct words in both sound and meaning. “Smog,” for example, is a portmanteau of both “smoke” and “fog,” because both the sounds of the words are combined as well as the definition of each word.

The portmanteau has become a popular marketing tactic in recent years. A portmanteau is also, often, an example of a neologism—a coined word for which new language is necessary to describe new things.

Here are a few portmanteaus that have recently entered the English lexicon:

• Fanzine (fan + magazine)
• Telethon (telephone + marathon)
• Camcorder (camera + recorder)
• Blog (web + log)
• Vlog (video + blog)
• Staycation (stay + vacation)
• Bromance (brother + romance)
• Webinar (web + seminar)
• Hangry (hungry + angry)
• Cosplay (costume + play)

Lewis Carroll popularized the portmanteau, but a work of fiction that’s rife with this word play is Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce. The novel—which is notoriously difficult to read due to its use of foreign words, as well as its disregard for conventional spelling and syntax—has coined portmanteaus like “ethiquetical” (ethical + etiquette), “laysense” (layman + sense), and “fadograph” (fading + photograph).

10. Word Play Examples: Spoonerism

A spoonerism occurs when the initial sounds of two neighboring words are swapped. For instance, the phrase “blushing crow” is a spoonerism of “crushing blow.”

Often, spoonerisms are slips of the tongue. We might confuse our syllables when we speak, which is a natural result of our brains’ relationships to language.

Spoonerisms can be literary examples of a play on words. But they’re also just ways to have fun with language. An example is Shel Silverstein’s posthumous collection of children’s poems Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook.

How to Use a Play on Words in Your Writing

Writers can utilize word play for two different strategies: literary effect, and creative thinking.

When it comes to literary effect, a play on words can surprise, delight, provoke, and entertain the reader. Devices like oxymoron, metalepsis, and kenning offer new, innovative possibilities in language, and a strong example of these devices can move the reader in a way that ordinary language cannot.

Word play can also stimulate your own creativity. If you experiment with language using literary devices, you might stumble upon the following:

• A title for your work.
• Character names.
• Witty dialogue.
• Interesting or provocative description.
• The core idea of a poem or short story.

I’ll give a personal example. Once, in a fiction course, I was struggling to come up with an idea for a short story. A friend and I ended up bouncing words around and came up with the phrase “psychic psychiatrist” (an example of alliteration and polyptoton). Just playing with words like this was enough to inspire me to write a story about exactly that, a psychiatrist who predicts the future for their clients without realizing it.

Titles like The Importance of Being Earnest (a self-referential pun), “Dammit I’m Mad” (palindrome), or Back to the Future (oxymoron) all use word play to frame and guide the story or poem. You might find inspiration for your own work by considering, with careful attention and an appreciation for language, the many possibilities of a play on words.

Experiment with Word Play at Writers.com

The instructors at Writers.com are masters of word play. Not only do we love words, we love to mess with them in surprising and innovative ways. If you want to formulate new ideas for your work, take a look at our upcoming online writing classes, where you’ll receive expert instruction on all the work you write and submit.

Definition of Word Play

Word play is a literary device, used as a form of wit. In this device, words are used in such a way that they become the main subject of conversation for entertainment and amusement. There are different types of wordplays. It is also called play upon words or play-on-words. Different dictionaries define word play as the exploitation of wit through changing places, contexts, and uses of a word in a way that creates laughter. Word play is also used as a compound word as well as a hyphen such as word-play is hyphenated and wordplay is a compound word. In both cases, it is correct. For example, Merriam-Webster defines this word as “the witty exploitation of meanings and ambiguities of words, especially in puns.” It also states that the word is used as a noun in the sense of cutting jokes.

Types of Word Play

Some of the best word plays include;

1. Pun
2. Alliteration
3. Ambigrams
4. Palindrome
5. Spoonerism
6. Oxymoron
7. Anagrams
8. Pangrams
9. Tongue twisters

Examples of Word Play in Literature

Example #1

Summer Moonshine by P. G. Wodehouse

“A certain critic — for such men, I regret to say, do exist — made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained ‘all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.’ He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have out-generalled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.”

Although Wodehouse has not used puns, his use of Wodehouse characters, the same names, and specifically, out-generalled show his wit. All these words have been placed at the most suitable places and in the most suitable contexts to cause laughter among his readers. They show how Wodehouse plays with words to amuse his readers.

Example #2

Julius Caesar from William Shakespeare

It would become me better than to close
In terms of friendship with thine enemies.
Pardon me, Julius! Here wast thou bayed, brave hart;
Here didst thou fall; and here thy hunters stand,
Signed in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy Lethe.
O world, thou wast the forest to this hart,
And this indeed, O world, the heart of thee!
How like a deer, strucken by many princes,
Dost thou here lie!

Master of word play, Shakespeare has beautifully used the words hart, forest, and deer to show that Antony is playing upon words. He has two objects; first to save himself from the enemies of Caesar so that he could exact revenge later, and second to show the people how the rebels have killed Caesar. Readers can easily spot the use of heart and heart in the last three lines full of irony and sarcasm only because of this wordplay.

Example #3

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Give me leave. Here lies the water; good: here
stands the man; good; if the man go to this water,
and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he
goes,–mark you that; but if the water come to him
and drown him, he drowns not himself: argal, he
that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life.

Although Hamlet is full of puns, these lines uttered by the First Clown show that Shakespeare is at his best when it comes to word play. If you read carefully, you find that the clown has used will, nill, good, water, drown, life, and death in a way that they all seem to contain some metaphysical quibblings and questions that are very hard to answer. In a way, they are also amusing that such a person could use words in such a way that they create serious concern as well as laughter.

Example #4

Rhyme PUNishment from Adventures Word Play by Brian P. Clearly

“Jamaica Sandwich?” Grandma asked,
and I replied, “I ate
some Chile from a China bowl
and Turkey from a plate.

Although these four verses by Brian Clearly show the use of different words in a different way, they also show a very interesting truth about different countries how they are named after things and things are named after them. He has used Jamaica, Chile, China, and Turkey for sandwiches, chili, and turkey for foods commonly known and used in the United States as well as across the globe. This is a beautiful wordplay. In fact, this entire book of Brian Clearly comprises different word plays.

Functions of Word Play

Based on different types, a word-play plays different functions. The first function is to create a sort of joke or fun for the readers so that they should enjoy reading such as Wodehouse has shown, using a portmanteau, out-generalled. The second purpose is to create ambiguity to make people feel that the person is different from what he is speaking. Shakespeare has done the same thing in his play, Julius Caesar. The third is to present some universal truths or metaphysical dilemmas to the public to think deeply such as stated by the clown of Hamlet. The fourth is to make children and people have deeper meanings than are universally accepted in some other way. Brian Clearly has done this in his poetry.

Revised as of
6 Mar 2023

Word play, i.e., verbal games, uses words to be witty, funny, make a memorable point, encourage understanding, make an impact, brighten text, for vehemence or emphasis, enhance a musical effect, catch attention, convey an idea or emotion, create an atmosphere, enforce an idea, and more.

Word Play is a Literary Device, Just Like Figures of Speech and Rhetorical Devices

Word Play is a verbal game of wit and fun that brightens and enhances the reader’s understanding that comes under the category of literary devices and may incorporate figures of speech or rhetorical devices.

A literary device is a linguistic or literary technique that creates specific effects, plots, styles, and more in the overall category for figure of speech, rhetorical device, and word play.

A figure of speech alters the meanings of words, going beyond a word’s or phrase’s literal interpretation, like simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and more. It becomes a device in rhetoric when it is aimed at persuading the readers or listeners.

A rhetorical device is used in the art of discourse in which the writer (or speaker) uses different methods to convince, influence, or please an audience. This helps explain why rhetorical devices and figures of speech occasionally swap categories.

Grammar Explanations is . . .

. . . an evolving list of the structural rules and principles that determines where words are placed in phrases or sentences as well as how the language is spoken. Sometimes I run across an example that helps explain better or another “also known as”. Heck, there’s always a better way to explain it, so if it makes quicker and/or better sense, I would appreciate suggestions and comments from anyone on an area of grammar with which you struggle or on which you can contribute more understanding.

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Word Play
Part of Speech: Literary Device
Definition: The witty exploitation of the meanings and ambiguities of words, especially in puns. There are six techniques used in word play: Figures of speech Formation of a Name Letters Manipulation of the Entire Sentence or Passage Phonetic Values Semantics, Choosing Words Authors known for their word play include Shakespeare, P.G. Wodehouse, James Joyce, Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, John Donne, Jessica Grant’s Come, Thou Tortoise, Mark Dunn’s Ella Minnow Pea, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland POST CONTENTS: By CategoriesAlphabeticalCharacter Name PlayEmphasisPlaying with LanguagePlaying with LettersPlaying with SoundPlaying with Words ACRONYM ANAGRAM Ananym Blanagram Palindrome Character by Character Name Palindrome Word Palindrome Number Palindrome Line-Unit Palindrome Word-Unit Palindrome Semordnilap ANTONYMS OF UNPAIRED WORDS APTRONYM Inaptronym CHARACTONYM CHRONOGRAM EMPHASIS Epanadiplosis Epanalepsis Epizeuxis Hypozeuxis EPITAPH HOMONYM Homograph Capitonym Heteronym Monosemy Polysemy Homophone Heterograph LANGUAGE GAME Anglish Bushism Chinglish Dog Latin Engrish Homophonic Translation Macaronic Language Pig Latin Ubbi Dubbi JANUSISM LIPOGRAM MALAPROPISM MONDEGREEN NEOLOGISM Derived Word Portmanteau Retronym Transferred Word PANGRAM PARAGRAM PARAPROSDOKIAN PAREGMENON PSEUDONYM PUN Antanaclasis Antistasis Double Entendre Paronomasia RHYME Assonance Consonance Alliteration Paromoion Tautogram Holorime Rhyme Scheme Rhythm & Rhyme Internal Rhyme Prosody Syllabic Prosody Accentual Prosody Accentual-Syllabic Prosody Quantitative Prosody Acatalectic Catalectic Brachycatalectic Hypercatalectic Ischiorrhogic Sibilance Stanza Synchysis SARCASM SLANG Slipshod Extension SOBRIQUET SPOONERISM TOM SWIFTY UNIVOCALIC WELLERISM ZEUGMA Diazeugma Disjunction Hypozeugma Mesozeugma Prozeugma Acatalectic Acronym Alliteration Anglish Anagram Ananym Antanaclasis Antistasis Antonyms of Unpaired Words Aptronym Assonance Auto-Antonym Blanagram Brachycatalectic Bushism Capitonym Catalectic Charactonym Chinglish Chronogram Consonance Derived Word Diazeugma Disjunction Dog Latin Double Entendre Emphasis Engrish Epanadiplosis Epanalepsis Epitaph Epizeuxis Heterograph Heteronym Holorime Homograph Homonym Homophone Homophonic Translation Hypercatalectic Hypozeugma Hypozeuxis Inaptronym Ischiorrhogic Janusism Lipogram Macaronic Language Malapropism Mesozeugma Mondegreen Monosemy Neologism Palindrome Palindrome, Character by Character Palindrome, Line-Unit Palindrome, Name Palindrome, Number Palindrome, Word Palindrome, Word-Unit Pangram Paragram Paraprosdokian Paregmenon Paromoion Paronomasia Pig Latin Polysemy Portmanteau Prosody Prosody, Accentual Prosody, Accentual-Syllabic Prosody, Quantitative Prosody, Syllabic Prozeugma Pseudonym Pun Retronym Rhyme Rhyme, Internal Rhyme Scheme Rhythm & Rhyme Sarcasm Semordnilap Sibilance Slang Sobriquet Spoonerism Stanza Synchysis Tautogram Tom Swifty Transferred Word Ubbi Dubbi Univocalic Wellerism Zeugma Ananym Aptronym Charactonym Inaptronym Pseudonym Sobriquet Emphasis Epanadiplosis Epanalepsis Epizeuxis Hypozeuxis Anglish Ananym Bushism Chinglish Dog Latin Engrish Homophonic Translation Language Game Macaronic Language Malapropism Pig Latin Slang Wellerism Acronym Anagram Blanagram Chronogram Lipogram Palindrome Character by Character Name Palindrome Word Palindrome Number Palindrome Line-Unit Palindrome Word-Unit Palindrome Pangram Paragram Tautogram Univocalic Acatalectic Alliteration Assonance Brachycatalectic Catalectic Consonance Holorime Hypercatalectic Internal Rhyme Ischiorrhogic Janusism Mondegreen Monosemy Paromoion Polysemy Prosody Prosody, Accentual Prosody, Accentual-Syllabic Prosody, Quantitative Prosody, Syllabic Rhyme Rhyme Scheme Rhythm & Rhyme Sibilance Spoonerism Stanza Synchysis Antanaclasis Antistasis Auto-Antonym Capitonym Derived Word Diazeugma Disjunction Double Entendre Hypozeugma Mesozeugma Neologism Paregmenon Paronomasia Portmanteau Prozeugma Pun Retronym Semordnilap Slipshod Extension Tom Swifty Transferred Word Zeugma A.k.a., wordplay, play-on-words
They were yung and easily freudened. – James Joyce They were young and easily frightened is a pun on the names of two famous psychoanalysts, Jung and Freud. Legend: Green indicates the word being played.
Acronym	An abbr. VERSION (visit entries reading samples in one note) of “Formatting Tip & Grammar: Acronyms & Initialisms for more depth and the acronym’s many, many variations.
Anagram	Definition: The result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once.
Return to top or post contents	Anagrams have been used to create codes, poke fun, etc. Other Types of Anagrams include: Ananym Blanagram Palindrome Character by Character Name Palindrome Word Palindrome Number Palindrome Line-Unit Palindrome Word-Unit Palindrome Semordnilap
mother-in-law Hitler woman debit card bad credit dormitory dirty room the earthquakes the queer shakes astronomer moon starrer punishments nine thumps school master the classroom anagram nag-a-ram Tom Marvolo Riddle I am Lord Voldemort
Ananym	Definition: A type of anagram that is a word whose spelling is derived by reversing the spelling of another word.
Return to top or post contents	Ananym Derived From Meaning Harpo Productions Oprah (Winfrey) Oprah’s media company Erewhon nowhere A utopia elgooG Google reverse-spelling search engine MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention System) spam reverse backronym Nomad Damon Damon Rochefort is a founding member of this band. Namyats Stayman Sam Stayman invented this bridge convention.
Blanagram	Definition: A word which is an anagram of another but for the substitution of a single letter.
Return to top or post contents	Turkish is a blanagram of Kurdish. Pangram, tangram and managua are blanagrams of the word anagram. Gantries and ingrates are blanagrams of angriest Credit to: Blanagram
Palindrome	Definition: A type of verbal play using a number, a word, a sentence, a symbol, or even signs that can be read forward as well as backward or in reverse order with the same effects and meanings.
Return to top or post contents	Different types of palindromes are available depending upon the requirements of the subject. Most Commonly Used Palindromes: Character by Character Name Palindrome Word Palindrome Number Palindrome Line-Unit Palindrome Word-Unit Palindrome Credit to: Palindrome
Character by Character Palindrome	Definition: Reads the same top to bottom, letter by letter.
Return to top or post contents	Demetri Martin’s “Dammit I’m Mad”: Dammit I’m mad. Evil is a deed as I live. God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt. To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss. Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help? Man, it is hot. I’m in it. I tell. I am not a devil. I level “Mad Dog”. Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp, In my halo of a mired rum tin. I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin. Is evil in a clam? In a trap? No. It is open. On it I was stuck. Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web. Be still if I fill its ebb. Ew, a spider… eh? We sleep. Oh no! Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name. Both, one… my names are in it. Murder? I’m a fool. A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash, A Goddam level I lived at. On mail let it in. I’m it. Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet! A loss it is alas (sip). I’d assign it a name. Name not one bottle minus an ode by me: “Sir, I deliver. I’m a dog” Evil is a deed as I live. Dammit I’m mad. Credit to: Gay
Name Palindrome	Definition: A name, that when reversed, is the same name.
Return to top or post contents	Lon Nol was a Prime Minister of Cambodia. Nisio Isin was a Japanese novelist. Robert Trebor was an actor. Stanley Yelnats is a character in Louis Sachar’s Holes.
Word Palindrome	Definition: A word, that when reversed, is the same word.
Return to top or post contents	civic radar level rotor noon tattarrattat madam deified
Number Palindrome	Definition: A number that is the same when written forwards or backwards.
Return to top or post contents	88, 99, 101, 111, 121, 131, 141, 151, 161, and 171
Line-Unit Palindrome	Definition: Reverses the order of the sentences, in that it reads the same from the first line to the last line as it does from the last to the first.
Return to top or post contents	Was it a car or a cat I saw? “Lewd did I live & evil I did dwel.” – O.A. Bootty’s The Funny Side of English “Norma is as selfless as I am, Ron.” credited to poet W.H. Auden A Toyota’s a Toyota.
Word-Unit Palindrome	Definition: Reverses the order of the words, instead of the letters.
Return to top or post contents	Nick Montfort has tweeted: “Mind your own business: Own your mind.” “Information school graduate peruses graduate school information.” “Desire? Consuming produce can produce consuming desire.” Howard W. Bergerson’s Palindromes and Anagrams: “You can cage a swallow, can’t you, but you can’t swallow a cage, can you!” “What! So he is hanged, is he? So what?” Credit to: Nelson
Semordnilap	Definition: A type of verbal play in which words spell new words when spelled backwards.
Return to top or post contents	stressed desserts reviled deliver stop pots Credit to: Palindrome
Ambigram	Definition: From a strictly narrative viewpoint, an ambigram is a word that can be reversed and still mean the same thing.
Return to top or post contents	More likely to be used in graphics. Check out Sonali Vora’s post, “A Clever Collection of 40+ Inspiring Ambigrams” for those graphic examples.
wow tot
Antonyms of Unpaired Words	Definition: Unpaired words are words that do not have an antonym, a paired word. A word may appear to have a related word due to its having a prefix or suffix, but doesn’t. Sometimes this lack is because that antonym disappeared from common usage, sometimes there never was a pairing.
Return to top or post contents	Real Word Not Popularly Used Doesn’t Exist Exists But is Not Related nonplussed plussed disheveled sheveled indifferent different reckless reckful indefatigable fatigable fatiguable defatigable flammable inflammable disarray array incorrigible corrigible intact tact disgruntled gruntled Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is full of such unpairings.
Aptronym	Definition: A personal name aptly or peculiarly suited to its owner. A.k.a. aptonym, euonym
Return to top or post contents	Jules Angst German professor of psychiatry, who has published works about anxiety Michael Ball football player Colin Bass British bassist in the rock band Camel Sara Blizzard meteorologist for the BBC Thomas Crapper sanitary engineer William Wordsworth English poet and advocate for the extension of British copyright law
Inaptronym	Definition: An aptronym that is ironic rather than descriptive.
Return to top or post contents	Jaime Sin, Archbishop of Manila Elevated to cardinal, as Cardinal Sin Don Black a White supremacist Peter Bowler Plays batsman position in cricket Samuel Foote Comic actor who lost a leg in a horseriding accident Larry Playfair NHL defenseman known for his fighting
Auto-Antonym	Definition: A word that can mean the opposite of itself. A.k.a. addad, antagonym, antilogy, autantonym, contranym, contronym, enantiodrome, enantiosemy, Janus word, self-antonym
Return to top or post contents	bound moving tied up, unable to move cleave to cut apart to seal together in camera out of the view of the public photographed for the public record inflammable Technically means “capable of burning” Commonly misunderstood to mean “unburnable” let allow prevent nonplussed baffled perplexed In North America can also mean “not disconcerted” or “unperturbed” overlook miss seeing something a place to see something from above refrain non-action repetition of an action sanction a penalty for disobeying a law official permission or approval for an action strike act decisively refuse to act to screen to show to conceal unlockable able to be unlocked unable to be locked Credit to: Autoantonym
Autogram	Definition: A sentence that describes itself in the sense of providing an inventory of its own characters.
Return to top or post contents	An essential feature is the use of full cardinal number names such as one, two, etc., in recording character counts. Letter counts only are often recorded while punctuation signs are ignored. A.k.a. self-documenting sentence, self-enumerating sentence
This sentence employs two a‘s, two c‘s, two d‘s, twenty-eight e‘s, five f‘s, three g‘s, eight h‘s, eleven i‘s, three l‘s, two m‘s, thirteen n‘s, nine o‘s, two p‘s, five r‘s, twenty-five s‘s, twenty-three t‘s, six v‘s, ten w‘s, two x‘s, five y‘s, and one z. Credit to: Autogram
Charactonym	Definition: Names that tell the reader something about the respective character: a single character trait, their looks, their behavior, a reference to a historical namesake with whom they have something in common, etc.
Return to top or post contents	In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Ernest’s given name sounds exactly like the adjective earnest. Remus Lupin: Remus refers to a mythological character raised by wolves while Lupin is a variation on the Latin for wolf, lupus. Wolf Wolf Draco Malfoy: Draco means dragon. Mal- is a prefix that means evil or bad. Sirius Black: Sirius is the name of the dog constellation. Black Dog. Caden Cotard was the name of a character in the movie Synecdoche, New York, a film about death, and the character’s name is based on a mental disorder in which the person thinks they are dead. Think of all the romantic heroines named Charity, Hope, etc. Spike, the character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Mistress Quickly Sir Toby Belch Snow White
Chronogram	Definition: A phrase in which constituent letters also express a number. Replacing one or more letters in a title with a number vaguely resembling the letter or otherwise related.
Return to top or post contents	“My Day Closed Is In Immortality” An epitaph for England’s Queen Elizabeth I in which the first letter of each word corresponds to a Roman numeral, MDCIII, which translates as 1603, the date of Queen Elizabeth I’s death. Se7en The title of the 1995 crime thriller Seven. Credit to: Nichol
Emphasis	You absolutely MUST visit the post, “Rhetorical Device: Emphasis” to learn so very much more.
Epanadiplosis	Definition: The same word is used both at the beginning and at the end of a sentence.
Return to top or post contents	“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” Laugh with those that laugh, and weep with those that weep. Credit to: Epanadiplosis
Epanalepsis	Definition: The same word or phrase appears both at the beginning and at the end of a clause or sentence. May Use Other Literary Devices including: Emphasis Figure of Speech Rhetorical Device
Return to top or post contents	The king is dead; long live the king. Severe to his servants, to his children severe. They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down. – Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God Beloved is mine; she is Beloved. “Control, control, you must learn control.” – The Empire Strikes Back “A minimum wage that is not a livable wage can never be a minimum wage.” – Ralph Nader Year chases year. Man’s inhumanity to man. “Common sense is not so common.” – Voltaire “Blood will have blood.” – Shakespeare, Macbeth An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life.
Epizeuxis	Dive, dive, dive into into the post, “Rhetorical Device“, for more on epizeuxis, a.k.a., hyperzeuxis.
Hypozeuxis	Writers shall delve into that emphasis. Writers shall delve into the “Word Play”. Writers shall delve into the depths of the hypozeuxis.
Epitaph	Definition: Phrase or statement written in memory of a person who has died, especially as an inscription on a tombstone. You may want to explore the post, “Word Confusion: Epigram vs Epigraph vs Epitaph vs Epithet“.
Return to top or post contents	“Here lie the bones of one ‘Bun’ He was killed with a gun. His name was not ‘Bun’ but ‘Wood’ But ‘Wood’ would not rhyme with gun But ‘Bun’ would.” “Good frend for Jesus sake forebeare, To digg þe dust encloased heare. Blese be þe man þat spares þes stones, And curst be he þat moves my bones.” Shakespeare composed his own epitaph as he was worried that someone would dig up his grave. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. “Whither thou goest, I will go.” – Bible, Ruth 1:16 This ain’t bad — once you get used to it. He was shot, bayoneted, beaten and left for dead, but recovered and lived to be 98 years of age. Credit to: Epitaph; Wessel
Homonym	Set yourself to read the post, “Homonym“, and let it set deep into your brain.
Homograph	It’s not read yet, but you’ll want to read the post, “Homograph“.
Capitonym	Father says you should read the post, “Capitonym“, lest you father a blooper.
Heteronym	Tear into the post, “Heteronym” before you shed a tear.
Monosemy	You may find it lucrative to read the post, “Monosemy“.
Polysemy	Take the post, “Polysemy“, take it and take a look.
Homophone	Fare thee well, and thou must read that fair post, “Homophone“.
Heterograph	It will take eight minutes to read the post, “Heterograph“, and it’ll be all ate up!
Language Game	Definition: A way of manipulating spoken words to make them incomprehensible to those not in the know. Primarily used by groups, mostly children, attempting to conceal their conversations from others.
Return to top or post contents	Some Languages Games include: Anglish Bushism Chinglish Dog Latin Engrish Macaronic Language Pig Latin Ubbi Dubbi
Anglish	Definition: A name coined by Paul Jennings in 1966 when he was writing … for Punch riffed on how English would have developed without the Norman conquests… You may want to explore The Anglish Moot, a wiki-type site composed wholly in a form of modern English without any loanwords at all. It can give you an appreciation for how many loanwords English uses on a daily basis.
Return to top or post contents	“The Banded Folkdoms of Americksland (BFA) is the most dwelt-in land in the landstretch of North Americksland. Its makeup is that of an evenly banded rike, with three branches of rike: the Leaderly, the Lawmootly, and the Lawlordly. The foremost tongue in the land is English, though some Spanish is spoken also.” “Earthfrod is the learning of Earth’s eretide and foreblowing as shown by rocks a.s.o. in fields such as life and former loftlays. Among its fields are: Orelifelore is the lore of olden breeds and shapes of life that lived in the forthwist, learned from the reading of bonerocks (fossils) and the siltborn rocks that witnessed olden life Sheathlore is the lore of how layers of andwork make up the Earth’s sheath – Highly ongot in this field is the Stonelore timemete (Geologic Timescale) “To be, or not to be — that is the asking: Whether ‘tis worthier in the mind to bear The slings and arrows of unbound mishap Or to take fight against a sea of worries And by gainstanding end them. To die, to sleep — No more — and by a sleep to say we end…” – An overbringing of Hamlet’s aside, Shakespeare, Hamlet Credit to: Fallon
Bushism	Definition: Unconventional words, phrases, pronunciations, malapropisms, the creation of neologisms, spoonerisms, stunt words, grammatically incorrect subject–verb agreement, and semantic or linguistic errors in the public speaking of former President of the United States George W. Bush. Credit to: Bushism
Return to top or post contents	“I guess it’s OK to call the secretary of education here ‘buddy’. That means friend.” – Philadelphia, 8 January 2009 “One of the very difficult parts of the decision I made on the financial crisis was to use hardworking people’s money to help prevent there to be a crisis.” – Washington, D.C., 12 January 2009 “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” – Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 6 September 2004 “They misunderestimated me.” – Bentonville, Arkansas, 6 November 2000 “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” – Saginaw, Michigan, 29 September 2000 Credit to: Bushism; Weisberg
Chinglish	Definition: Confusing or inappropriate English translations from Chinese. Think of the signs at the Chinese Olympics. Check out Engrish to see the difference.
Return to top or post contents	The grass smiles to you, pleas do not trample on it. The door has been bad. Push on the left side of the door. We herein construction, bring inconvenience to you. please understanding! Is your hair bringing you troubles like scurf, feeble fracture easily, withered and furcated difficult to handle, fat and greasy? Chicken Fried Supply Weapons. A delicious part of your military breakfast. Fire Distinguisher Classier than the slow burn… The worst examples? All those help manuals for your electronics. Credit to: Hall
Dog Latin	Definition: A spurious or incorrect Latin that refers to the creation of a phrase or jargon in imitation of Latin, often by “translating” English words (or those of other languages) into Latin by conjugating or declining them as if they were Latin words. (Sometimes “dog Latin” can mean a poor-quality attempt at writing genuine Latin.)
Return to top or post contents	It is more of a humorous device for invoking scholarly seriousness. A.k.a. Canis Latinicus, Cod Latin, macaronic Latin, mock Latin Credit to: Dog
Patres conscripti took a boat, and went to Philippi; Boatum est upsettum, magno cum grandine venti. Omnes drownderunt qui swim away non potuerunt. Trumpeter unus erat, qui coatum scarlet habebat; Et magnum periwig, tied about with the tail of a dead pig. The conscript fathers [i.e. Senators] took a boat and went to Philippi; The boat was upset by a great hailstorm of wind. All drowned who could not swim away. There was a trumpeter, who had a scarlet coat, and a great periwig, tied about with the tail of a dead pig. camera necessaria pro usus cookare, cum saucepannis, stewpannis, scullero, dressero, coalholo, stovis, smoak-jacko; pro roastandum, boilandum, fryandum, et plumpudding mixandum, pro turtle soupos, calve’s-head-hashibus, cum calipee et calepashibus. A necessary room for the purpose of cooking, with saucepans, stewpans, scullery, dresser, coalhole, stoves, smoke-jack; for roasting, boiling, frying, and mixing plum pudding, for turtle soups, calves’-head hashes, with calipee and calipashes. Illegitimi non carborundum. Don’t let the bastards grind you down. The motto of the City Watch was originally: “Fabricati Diem, Puncti Agunt Celeriter” – Terry Pratchett, Discworld series Make the day, the moments pass quickly. It devolved into: “Fabricati Diem, Punc.” Make My Day, Punk. “Flickum Bicus” is a spell used in Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files to light candles. Flick your Bic. “dorkus malorkus”, an insult spoken by Bart Simpson major dork
Engrish	Definition: Confusing or inappropriate English translations from Japanese (due to their difficulty in pronouncing the letter “L”. Check out Chinglish to see the difference.
Return to top or post contents	All your base are belong to us.” – Zero Wing The song “Let’s Fighting Love” from “Good Times with Weapons”, South Park The song “I’m so Ronery” from Team America: World Police Credit to: Engrish
Homophonic Translation	Definition: Translates the text in one language into the same or another language AND preserves how it sounds, but doesn’t worry about retaining the original meaning.
Return to top or post contents	It also incorporates phono-semantic matching which attempts to retain the meaning AND the way it sounds in the original language. It may also be used for humorous purpose, as bilingual punning (macaronic language). This requires the listener or reader to understand both the surface, nonsensical translated text, as well as the source text — the surface text then sounds like source text spoken in a foreign accent.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall French: “s’étonne aux Halles” is surprised at the Market recognize speech wreck a nice beach French: Frère Jacques English: Frayer Jerker chase-lounge French: chaise longue shoepike French: choupique bowdark French: bois d’arc Some works by Oulipo, Frédéric Dard, Luis van Rooten’s English-French Mots D’Heures: Gousses, Rames, Louis Zukofsky’s Latin-English Catullus Fragmenta, Ormonde de Kay’s N’Heures Souris Rames: The Coucy Castle Manuscript, John Hulme’s Morder Guss Reims: The Gustav Leberwurst Manuscript (English and German Edition) and David Melnick’s “Men in Aida“. Howard L. Chace’s Anguish Languish: “Ladle Rat Rotten Hut”
Macaronic Language	Definition: Text using a mixture of languages, particularly bilingual puns or situations in which the languages are otherwise used in the same context (rather than simply discrete segments of a text being in different languages).
Return to top or post contents	It may also denote hybrid words, which are “internally macaronic”, roughly meaning: using more than one language or dialect within the same conversation. It can have derogatory overtones, and is usually reserved for works where the mixing of languages has a humorous or satirical intent or effect.
When I came down to Glasgow first, a-mach air Tìr nan Gall. I was like a man adrift, air iomrall’s doll air chall. Authors like Carlo Emilio Gadda; the character Salvatore in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, and the peasant hero of his Baudolino; Dario Fo’s Mistero Buffo (“Comic Mystery Play”) features grammelot sketches using language with macaronic elements; and, Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai includes portions of Japanese, Classical Greek, and Inuktitut. Credit to: Macaronic
Pig Latin	Definition: A game of alterations played on the English language game. There is no connection to Latin.
Return to top or post contents	Words are formed by transposing the initial consonant sound to the end of the word and adding -ay to it. It’s mostly used as a “code” amongst children or to converse in perceived privacy from adults or other children.
trash ash-tray plunder under-play nix ixnay scram amscray stupid upidstay run un-ray Credit to: Dog Latin
Ubbi Dubbi	Definition: A language game that is a close relative of the language game Obbish. that was popularized by the 1970s PBS television show Zoom.
Return to top or post contents	Ubbi dubbi works by adding ub- before each vowel sound in a syllable with the stress falling on the ub of the syllable that is stressed in the original word. Variations to Ubbi Dubbi include Ob, Ib, Arpy Darpy, and Iz (a.k.a. shizzolation). PBS Kids has an ubbi dubbi generator (<https://pbskids.org/cgi-registry/zoom/ubbidubbi.cgi>), if you want to play.
hello hubellubo speak spubeak Hubba Bubba bubblegum Hububbuba Bububbuba bububbublegubum Hi, how are you? Hubi, hubow ubare yubou? Credit to: Ubbi
Janusism	Definition: The use of phonetics to create a humorous word.
Return to top or post contents	BOREneo Borneo
Lipogram	Definition: A composition that deliberately avoids using a letter of the alphabet.
Return to top or post contents	Alonso Alcalá y Herrera’s Varios effectos de amor is a sequence of five novellas each eschewing a different vowel J.R. Ronden’s La Pièce sans A (The Play Without A; French only, 1816) Georges Perec’s La Disparition (A Void; 1969), which dispenses with e. Ernest Wright’s Gadsby (1939) without using e. Credit to: Branch
Malapropism	Definition: The practice of misusing words by substituting words with similar sounding words that have different, often unconnected meanings, and thus creating a situation of confusion, misunderstanding, and amusement.
Return to top or post contents	For writers, it is useful to create the sense of a character who is flustered, bothered, unaware, stupid, or confused. A trick to using malapropism is to ensure that the two words (the original and the substitute) sound similar enough for the reader to catch onto the intended switch and find humor in the result.
Mrs. Malaprop said . . . What She Meant to Say I was recently diagnosed, and I told my wife that I had Immaculate Disintegration. macular degeneration Lead the way and we’ll precede. proceed “He’d reached the pineapple of success.” – Archie Bunker pinnacle He’d reached the pinnacle of Sussex. success Sometimes, I get so contused! confused And now, we bid you an odd fondue. adieu “Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons.” – Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, the character Dogberry suspicious persons Credit to: Literary Devices.
Mondegreen	Definition: A mishearing of a popular phrase or song lyric, was coined by the writer Sylvia Wright.
Return to top or post contents	Mondegreen Actual Lyric Credit to: and there’s a wino down the road — I should have stolen Oreos and as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our souls “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin Everybody’s crazy ’bout a shot glass man Everybody’s crazy ’bout a sharp-dressed man “Sharp-Dressed Man” by ZZ Top you’ve got mud on your face, front disc brakes you’ve got mud on your face, a big disgrace “We Will Rock You” by Queen I’ve got a backache from loving you I’ve got a bad case of loving you “Loving You” by Robert Palmer Credit to: Barber
Neologism	Definition: A new word or phrase that is not yet used regularly by most speakers and writers.
Return to top or post contents	3 Types of Neologisms: Derived Word Transferred Word Portmanteau Retronym
Derived Word	Definition: Words that use ancient Greek and Latin phrases naturalized to match the English language.
Return to top or post contents	Derived Word Origin Meaning copious cornucopia Latin: copia plenty submarine subway Latin: sub under villa village villager Latin: villa villa house Nike Greek: Nike goddess phobia Greek: phobia fear of micro Greek: micro so small it’s hard to see democracy Greek: demos people government by the people
Transferred Word	Definition: Encompasses words taken from another language and used in an adjusted form in English.
Return to top or post contents	New words come from creativity and invention, merging of existing words, and borrowing from other cultures and languages.
Transferred Word Origin Meaning herbs French: herbes herbs alligator Spanish: lagarto lizard wiener dog German: wiener hot dog
Portmanteau	Definition: Two or more words are joined together to coin a new word by blending parts of two or more words, but it always shares the same meanings as the original words. Similar to blend eponym, a portmanteau incorporates two regular words while a blend eponym includes a proper name.
Return to top or post contents	Portmanteau is different from a compound word, as a compound word can have a completely different meaning from the words that it was coined from. A.k.a. blend word
Portmanteau Words to Blend Meaning brunch breakfast + lunch meals telethon telephone + marathon a difficult task using the telephone edutainment education + entertainment enjoyable learning britcom British + comedy It’s a funny show from Britain. tragicomic tragedy + comedy comically disastrous spork spoon + fork a combined utensil fanzine fan + magazine a magazine for people with a strong interest in or admiration for someone or something smog smoke + fog has the properties of both smoke and fog
Retronym	Definition: A new word created to distinguish between the original form/version and an “improved” version of something.
Return to top or post contents	Advances in technology are often responsible for the coinage of retronyms.
Retronym Origin Evolved with analog watch digital watch Invention of the digital watch acoustic guitar electric guitar Invention of the electric guitar bicycle safety bicycle The first bicycles had a large wheel and a small one, then came bicycles that were deemed safer because they had two same-size wheels. bicycle penny-farthing high-wheeler Since the early 1900s, bicycles were expected to have two same-size wheels, and the original bicycle was renamed. straight marriage heterosexual marriage marriage With the evolution of same-sex marriages
Pangram	Definition: A sentence using every letter of a given alphabet at least once.
Return to top or post contents	Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding. A.k.a. holoalphabetic sentence
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz. The five boxing wizards jump quickly. How vexingly quick daft zebras jump! Bright vixens jump; dozy fowl quack. Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow. Credit to: Panagram
Paragram	Definition: A type of verbal play consisting of the alteration of a letter or a series of letters in a word. A.k.a. textonym
Return to top or post contents	You’re the wurst. Swine Lake by James Marshall and Maurice Sendak is about pigs performing a ballet. The title of a Sports Illustrated article about exercise programs for NASCAR pit crews: “Making a Fit Stop”. – Lars Anderson (2005) Credit to: Nordquist; Dean
Paraprosdokian	Definition: An unexpected shift in meaning at the end of a sentence, stanza, series, or short passage and is often used for comic effect.
Return to top or post contents	A.k.a. surprise ending May Use Other Literary Devices including: “Figure of Speech: Anticlimax“ “Rhetorical Device: Bathos“ “Figure of Speech: Climax“ Feghoot “Figure of Speech“ “Rhetorical Device“ Garden-Path Sentence Syllepsis “Figure of Speech: Trope“ “Figure of Speech: Verbal Irony“ Zeugma
“For every complex problem, there is an answer that is short, simple — and wrong.” – H.L. Mencken “If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.” – Dorothy Parker, quoted by Mardy Grothe in Ifferisms “If I am reading this graph correctly — I’d be very surprised.” – Stephen Colbert “Trin Tragula — for that was his name — was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.” – Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Credit to: Nordquist, “Paraprosdokian”
Paregmenon	Definition: A general term for the repetition of a word which has the same root in a short sentence. It is a simple and subtle way of grabbing attention, much as a hammer hitting a nail.
Return to top or post contents	It will destroy the wisdom of the wise. Verily, you are very well verified. Happily, happiness makes others happy too. Society is the socialization of the unsociable. Credit to: Burton; Paregmenon
Pseudonym	Definition: A fictitious name used, usually by an author, to conceal his or her identity.
Return to top or post contents	A.k.a. pen name
Pseudonym Real Name J.D. Robb Nora Roberts Erin Hunter Kate Cary Cherith Baldry Tui T. Sutherland Gillian Phillips Inbali Iserles Victoria Holmes (editor) George Sand Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin Ellis Peters Edith Mary Pargeter, OBE, BEM
Pun	Definition: A play on words in which a humorous effect is produced by using a word that suggests two or more meanings or by exploiting similar sounding words having different meanings but multiple correct interpretations.
Return to top or post contents	“Puns may be regarded as in-jokes or idiomatic constructions, as their usage and meaning are specific to a particular language and its culture”. May Use Other Literary Devices including: “Figure of Speech“ “Homographic“ “Homophonic“ “Idioms“ Metonymy “Rhetorical Device“ A.k.a., paronomasia Credit to: Pun
A vulture boards a plane, carrying two dead possums. The attendant looks at him and says, “I’m sorry, sir, only one carry on allowed per passenger.” Santa’s helpers are known as subordinate Clauses. The grammarian was very logical. He had a lot of comma sense. She had a photographic memory but never developed it. The two pianists had a good marriage. They always were in a chord. I was struggling to figure out how lightning works then it struck me. I really wanted a camouflage shirt, but I couldn’t find one. You’re so punny. Piers Anthony’s Xanth series. What do you call a person rabid with wordplay? An energizer punny. “You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish. Unless of course, you play bass.” – Douglas Adams “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.” – Groucho Marx Credit to: Gunner
Antanaclasis	Definition: A type of pun often found in slogans which repeats the same word, but that word will have different meanings.
Return to top or post contents	While very similar to epizeuxis, the repeated words using antanaclasis have different meanings and pop up in a sentence or passage while epizeuxis repeats the word (with the same meaning) in succession. The benefits of using antanaclasis include: Provides an exciting contrast of different meanings to the same word Enhances the dramatic and persuasive impact of a piece of writing or speech by employing words with contrasting meanings and therefore increases the vocabulary as well Creates comic effect when used in the form of irony and pun Makes the literary text memorable due to repetition It is used as a rhetorical device in poetry, prose and political speeches. Political leaders make use of this technique in order to persuade and draw the attention of audience. May Use Other Literary Devices including: Rhetorical Device
“I will dissemble myself in’t; and I would I were the first that ever dissembled in such a gown.” – Shakespeare, Twelfth Night The critical word is “dissemble” and Viola is disguised and wishing she weren’t the first to act hypocritically in such a disguise. “Viola: Save thee, friend, and thy music! Dost thou live by thy tabour? Clown: No, sir, I live by the church. Viola: Art thou a churchman? Clown: No such matter, sir: I do live by the church; for I do live at my house, and my house doth stand by the church.” – Shakespeare, Twelfth Night “Live” is the antanaclasis, as Viola asks if the clown makes a living with his drum, to which the clown replies that, no, his address is by the church, deliberately miscontruing her question. The clown then goes on to clarify that while he’s not a priest, his house is near the church, and therefore he lives by the church. “…put out the light, then put out the light…” – Shakespeare, Othello Othello will extinguish the candle and then he would end Desdemona’s life. “…for many a thousand widows Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down…” – William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, scene II The Dauphin of France’s “jest” will end with the death of many Frenchmen, that mothers will lose their sons, that castles will be torn down. “To England will I steal, and there I’ll steal”. – William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act V. Pistol decides to flee to England and become a thief. “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.” – Groucho Marx “In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, Party always find you!” You can have fun in America. In Russia, you’ll probably end up in exile. “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired, with enthusiasm.” Work hard, or we’ll gladly fire you. “Sorry, Charlie. StarKist doesn’t want tuna with good taste — StarKist wants tuna that taste good”. – StarKist Tuna commercials from 1961 to 1989 I always liked this commercial, lol. Charlie was always trying to impress the fishermen with his refinement, but the announcer always told Charlie that it’s not his discernment, but how yummy his flesh was. “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.” Bison try to intimidate a city in New York State while more bison intimidate yet more bison. Credit to: Antanaclasis (LD)
Antistasis	Definition: The repetition of a word in a different or contrary sense. Often, simply synonymous with antanaclasis.
Return to top or post contents	May Use Other Literary Devices including: Figure of Speech Rhetorical Device Antanaclasis “Rhetorical Device: Ploce“ Pun Stasis Traductio “Figure of Speech: Trope“ A.k.a. refractio, antanadasis Credit to: Burton; “Antistasis”; Nordquist, “What”
“In the stories we tell ourselves, we tell ourselves.” – Michael Martone, The Flatness and Other Landscapes “He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.” – Benjamin Franklin “Why do so many people who can’t write plays write plays?” – James Thurber, “letter to Richard Maney”. Selected Letters of James Thurber, ed. by Helen Thurber and Edward Weeks Credit to: Nordquist, “What”
Double Entendre	Definition: A type of pun, it uses a word in one sense and then switches its meaning for comic effect, or simply establishes a context in which the word will have one interpretation and then uses it in another sense. Usually one of the meanings is risqué.
Return to top or post contents	Rhetorically, double entendre uses “Rhetorical Device antanaclasis, reusing the same word or sound, but changing the meaning. If you’re curious about creating your own double entendres, explore Christopher’s post. May Use Other Literary Devices including: Figure of Speech Rhetorical Device Credit to: Christopher
Mountains and alcohol: the higher you are, the higher you get. Dorothy Parker said, “If all the young women from all the Seven Sisters’ academies were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.” If you consider a reasonable mammal like the elk, once a year the females go into heat, the males start rutting, and if a male can battle past the other males and get to a female, she never has a headache, but with humans, the females never go into heat, the males are always rutting, and the females find that a major headache. “A politician is asked to stand, wants to sit, and is expected to lie.” – Winston Churchill “When given a choice between two evils, I typically choose the one I haven’t tried yet.” – Mae West I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I’ll never know. – Groucho Marx So to speak. Credit to: Christopher
Paronomasia	Definition: Using words that sound alike but that differ in meaning. A.k.a. adnominatio, agnominatio, agnomination, allusio, allusion, the nicknamer, prosonomasia
Return to top or post contents	A jesting friar punned “Errans mus”. – Puttenham Erasmus as an “erring mouse”. A pun is its own reword. Credit to: Burton, “Paronomasia”
Rhyme	Definition: A pattern of words that contain similar sounds. go   show   glow   know   though A repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or more different words. Types of Rhyme include: Internal Rhyme Assonance: matching vowel sounds Consonance: matching consonant sounds Alliteration: matching consonants sounds at the beginning of words Paromoion Holorime: a rhyme that encompasses an entire line or phrase Sibilance
Assonance	Definition: Two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds. The repeated sound can appear anywhere in the words.
Return to top or post contents	An easy way to remember the difference between the two is that assonance begins with a vowel whereas consonance begins with a consonant. It’s very useful in both poetry and prose. Writers use it as a tool to enhance a musical effect in the text by using it for creating internal rhyme, which consequently enhances the pleasure of reading a literary piece. In addition, it helps writers to develop a particular mood in the text that corresponds with its subject matter. May Use Other Literary Devices including: Figure of Speech Poetic device It is the opposite of consonance. Credit to: Assonance
Men sell the wedding bells. Go and mow the lawn. Johnny went here and there and everywhere. The engineer held the steering to steer the vehicle.
Consonance	Definition: A consonant sound is repeated in words that are in close proximity. The repeated sound can appear anywhere in the words.
Return to top or post contents	It is the opposite of assonance, which refers to the repetition of vowel sounds in quick succession. An easy way to remember the difference between the two is that “consonance” begins with a consonant, whereas “assonance” begins with a vowel. Two particular types of consonance involve: Alliteration: refers to the repetition of consonant sounds, but only in the stressed part of a word Sibilance: involves the repetition of consonant sounds, but only of sibilant consonants, i.e., s, sh, and z May Use Other Literary Devices including: Figure of Speech Idiom Poetic device Many common phrases, idioms, and tongue twisters as well as famous speeches use consonance.
All’s well that ends well. The early bird gets the worm. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Curiosity killed the cat. A blessing in disguise. She sells seashells by the seashore. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy “So I close in saying that I might have had a tough break — but I have an awful lot to live for!” – Lou Gehrig “There were many more merry men,” Mary mused.
Alliteration	Definition: Uses repeated sounds at the beginning of words to focus attention or convey an idea or emotion. Alliterative words are consecutive or close to each other in the text.
Return to top or post contents	It focuses readers’ attention on a particular section of text, creating rhythm and mood and can have particular connotations. For example, repetition of the s sound often suggests a snake-like quality, implying slyness and danger. May Use Other Literary Devices including: Appealing to the reader’s senses Figure of Speech Rhetorical Device Sound Most alliterations are tautograms and vice versa. Other Types of Alliteration include: Paromoion Tautogram
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” Bennie binged on buckets of big blue berries. “Heavenly Hillsboro. The buckle on the bible belt” – Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Inherit the Wind Creates a soft, soothing effect of the “h” sounds and the sharp, percussive effect of the “b” sounds. “Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary; rare and radiant maiden; And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain… Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before” – Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven Uses alliteration by repeating w sounds to emphasize the weariness of narrator, and then r and s sounds in the second and third lines respectively. In the last two lines, d sound highlights the narrator’s hopelessness.
Paromoion	Definition: A similarity of sound between words of syllables usually occurring between words in the same positions in parisonic members at the beginning (alliteration), at the end (homoioteleuton), or both at once (euphuism). A.k.a. paramoeon, paramoion Credit to: Croll, 242
Return to top or post contents	O Tite, tute, Tati, tibi tanta Tyranne tulisti. – Quintus Ennius, Annals
Tautogram	Definition: Each word in the text starts with the same letter.
Return to top or post contents	A tautogram is different from alliteration in that a tautogram is written and visual whereas an alliteration is phonetic, sound, however, most tautograms are still alliterations and vice versa.
Crazy child came calling. pneumatic plate Truly tautograms triumph, trumpeting trills to trounce terrible travesties. Todd told Tom the termite to tactically trot through the thick, tantalisingly tasteful timber. Brilliant, because bacon bites beat bruschetta. Credit to: Tautogram
Holorime	Definition: A form of identical rhyme in which the rhyme encompasses an entire line or phrase. It may be a couplet or short poem made up entirely of homophonous verses.
Return to top or post contents	“In Ayrshire hill areas, a cruise, eh, lass?” “Inertia, hilarious, accrues, hélas!” – Miles Kington, “A Lowlands Holiday Ends in Enjoyable Inactivity” “Poor old Dali loped with an amazin’ raging cyst, as poor Roald Dahl eloped with Anna-May’s enraging sisters.” – Steven F. Smith, translator
Rhyme Scheme	Definition: The pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. If the alternate words rhyme, it is an a-b-a-b rhyme scheme, which means a is the rhyme for lines 1 and 3 and b is the rhyme affected in lines 2 and 4.
Return to top or post contents	An a-b-c-b Rhyme Scheme
Roses are red	a
Violets are blue	b
Beautiful they all may be	c
But I love you	b
Bid me to weep, and I will weep	a
While I have eyes to see	b
And having none, yet I will keep	a
A heart to weep for thee	b

Rhythm & Rhyme
Rhyme A repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or more different words.

• go   show   glow   know   though

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Rhythm – A strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound

Definition: Together, rhythm and rhyme refer to a recurring pattern of rhymes created by using words that produce the same or similar sounds in prose and poetry, creating a musical, gentle effect.

Combining rhythm + rhyme creates more musical lines that will be easier to remember.

The Rhythm and Rhyme Scheme
I am a teapot	a
Short and stout;	b
This is my handle	c
And this is my spout.	b
When the water’s boiling	d
Hear me shout;	b
Just lift me up	e
And pour me out.	b
One, two,	a
Buckle my shoe.	a
Three, four,	b
Shut the door.	b
Red sky at night,	a
Sailor’s delight.	a
Red sky at morning,	b
Sailor take warning.	b

Internal Rhyme
Definition: The practice of forming a rhyme in only one lone line of verse and is typically constructed in the middle of a line to rhyme with the bit at the end of the same metrical line.

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There are three variations:

1. Two or more rhyming words in the same line
2. Rhyming words that appear in the middle of successive lines
3. A word at the end of a line that rhymes with a word in the middle of a successive line

A.k.a. middle rhyme

Credit to: Internal

“We were the first that ever burst.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

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“Just turn me loose let me straddle my old saddle,
Underneath the western skies,
On my cayuse let me wander over yonder,
‘Til I see the mountains rise.” – Cole Porter, “Hollywood Canteen”

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It would be good to have a hood in this weather.

I felt sad thinking of the day / That my dad left for the war.

In the end, what does it matter? / It’s all chatter, the things they say.

Prosody
Definition: The patterns of rhythm, sound, tempo, pitch, loudness, and meter used in poetry.

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It is an important element of language that contributes towards rhythmic and acoustic effects in a piece of writing, using such different elements as scansion, sound, pace, and meaning.

Types of Prosody:

• Syllabic Prosody
• Accentual Prosody
• Accentual-Syllabic Prosody
• Quantitative Prosody

Prosody also has multiple functions in both poetry and prose:

• Used with syntactic phrasing, word segmentation, sentence, accentuation, stress and phonological distinctions
• Use it to produce rhythmic and acoustic effects
• A sentence in a given perspective expresses more than just its linguistic meanings:
  • Expressive content could be an identity of a speaker, his mood, age, sex and other extra linguistic features
  • Pragmatic content encompasses the attitude of the speaker and listener and provides a relationship between a speaker and his/her discourse
    • Reflect different features of a speaker and his utterance, emotional state, a form of utterance, presence of sarcasm or irony, and emphasis

Credit to: Prosody

Syllabic Prosody
Definition: Counts a fixed number of syllables in each line, while accent, tone and quantity play a secondary role.

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“In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
W-ith all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light…
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.” – Dylan Thomas, In My Craft or Sullen Art

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An example of syllabic verse, which contains constrained or a fixed number of syllables with each line consisting of seven syllables except the final line, but does not follow a consistent stressed pattern.

Accentual Prosody
Definition: Measures only the accents or stresses in a line of verse, while the overall number of syllables may vary in a line. It is very common in Germanic, Old English, and modern English verses.

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“

what

if a

much

of a

which

of a

wind
gives

the

truth

to

sum

mer’s

lie

;

blood

ies with

diz

zying

leaves

the

sun

and

yanks

im

mor

tal

stars

aw

ry

?
Blow

king

to

beg

gar and

queen

to

seem

(blow friend to fiend: blow space to time)
— when skies are hanged and oceans drowned,
the single secret will still be man…” – e.e. cummings, “what if a much of a which of a wind”

An example of accentual verse in which the number of stressed syllables is four that remain constant. They are underlined, but the syllables in each line do not remain constant and change from seven to ten.

Accentual-Syllabic Prosody
Definition: Counts both number of syllables and accents in each line. It is commonly found in English poetry.

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“If

ev

er

two

were

one

, then

sure

ly

we

.
If

ev

er

man

were

loved

by

wife

, then

thee

;
If

ev

er

wife

was

hap

py

in

a

man

,
Com

pare

with

me

, ye

wo

men,

if

you

can

.
I

prize

thy

love

more

than

whole

mines

of

gold

” – Anne Bradstreet, “To My Dear and Loving Husband”

An example of accentual-syllabic verse, which focuses on both the number of syllables and number of accents in each poetic line. This iambic pentameter poem is one of the best examples of accented syllabic verse, as it contains five iambs in each line and follows strictly measured syllabic pattern.

Quantitative Prosody
Definition: Depends upon the duration of syllables, which can be determined by the amount of time used on pronunciation, such as a with free verse poem that consists of unmeasured lines.

Commonly found in Roman and classical Greek poetry and very rarely in English poetry.

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“Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris…” – Virgil, “The Aeneid”

This opening line of Virgil’s poem is a classic model of quantitative prosody. Look at the stress pattern that is irregular, as this type of prosody does not have measured syllables, but it measures the meter according to duration of time to pronounce a line.

Acatalectic
Definition: Having complete or full number of syllables in a poetic line.

A.k.a. ataclexis

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This stanza example…

“When Sr Joshua Reynolds died	catalectic
All Nature was degraded;
The King dropp’d a tear into the Queen’s Ear,	acatalectic
And all his Pictures Faded.” – William Blake, “Art and Artist”	hypercatalectic

Catalectic
Definition: A metrically incomplete line of verse, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot.

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One form of catalexis is headlessness, where the unstressed syllable is dropped from the beginning of the line.

Making a meter catalectic can drastically change the feeling of the poem, and catalexis is often used to achieve a certain effect.

Credit to: Catalectic

Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful. – W. H. Auden, “Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love”

Brachycatalectic
Definition: A line missing two syllables.

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Song of Hiawatha”

Hypercatalectic
Definition: A line of poetry having an extra syllable or syllables at the end of the last metrical foot.

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This stanza example…

“When Sr Joshua Reynolds died	catalectic
All Nature was degraded;
The King dropp’d a tear into the Queen’s Ear,	acatalectic
And all his Pictures Faded.” – William Blake, “Art and Artist”	hypercatalectic

Ischiorrhogic
Definition: [Of an iambic line] A type of poetry.

Having a spondee as its second, fourth, or sixth foot.

A.k.a. broken-backed, broken-hipped

Credit to: Ischiorrhogic

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I can only find examples in Greek, and I doubt they’d translate to provide a good example in English.

Sibilance
Definition: Repeats “hissing”, sibilant consonant sounds, such as s (most popular), sh, ch, th, f, soft c, and z in a specific type of alliteration, mostly used in poetry.

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Sibilance is useful in creating an atmosphere, drawing the attention of readers to paint a more colorful picture of the idea of the event. Descriptive scenes can be explained more carefully by laying stress on the specific letters. In fact, the sense of repeated sounds and then the making up of different literary devices through sibilance creates further musical effects on the readers.

Credit to: Sibilance

“Sing a Song of Sixpence”

Charming child who changed the world.

A shark sliced through the water, charging toward the shore.

“As whence the sun ‘gins his reflection
Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break,
So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come
Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark:
No sooner justice had, with valor armed,…
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,
With furbished arms and new supplies of men,…
Till seven at night. To make society
The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourselves
Till suppertime alone. While then, God be with you!” – William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Stanza
Definition: A single, related one unit or group of lines in poetry, which forms one particular faction in poetry.

The most basic kind of stanza is usually four lines per group, with the simplest rhyme scheme a-b-a-b being followed.

Credit to: Rhyme

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The greedy paddy cat,	a
Chased after the mice;	b
She got so round and fat,	a
But it tasted so nice.”	b

Synchysis
Definition: An odd form of an alternating word sequence of the form a-b-a-b.

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Typically appears in poetry, where words are rearranged such that alternate words should be read together. It asks the reader to think hard, concentrating on and reviewing the words until the pattern and so the meaning is discovered. This can be so confusing that it may be necessary to emphasize the words that go together so the reader or listener can understand better what is intended.

Young man, boy old.

Golden happy ring girl.

I run and shoot, fast and accurate.

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Credit to: Synchysis

Sarcasm
If you can’t bothered to click over to Figure of Speech: Sarcasm, it’s your loss.

Slang
Definition: Informal language that continually evolves and changes and is considered to be a largely spontaneous, lively, and creative speech process typically restricted to a particular context or group of people, which begins as a way to flout standard language.

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It’s more common in speech than in writing, so it’s ideal for dialogue!

Slang can be blunt or riddled with metaphor, and often quite profound.

Many slang terms become accepted into the standard lexicon and/or are borrowed between groups, and much of it dies out.

A.k.a. argot, cant, colloquialism, jargon, patois

Slang	Meaning
grass	marijuana
check out	look
booty	butt
ice bling	jewels
groovy cool	fashionable exciting enjoyable excellent
gig	concert recital performance

Slipshod Extension
Definition: Overextending the meaning of a word beyond its proper meaning.

A.k.a. word-swapping

Credit to: Slipshod

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Word	True Meaning	Overextension
dilemma	when there is a pair, or at least a definite number, of lines that might be taken in argument or action, and each is unsatisfactory	a difficult situation or predicament
fulsome	cloying, excessive, disgusting by excess	He showered her with fulsome praise.
literally	exactly, truly, completely	I told him I never wanted to see him again, but I didn’t expect him to take it literally.
peruse	to read or examine, usually with great care	Using it using as a synonym for skim, scan, or read quickly
plethora	overabundance or unhealthy excess of something	Commonly used as a non-judgmental synonym for a large quantity
hopefully	in a hopeful manner	Hopefully, she’ll work out is a somewhat negative interpretation
decimate	kill one in ten	destroy

Credit to: Nordquist, “5”; Carey

Sobriquet
Definition: A nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another.

Distinct from a pseudonym that is assumed as a disguise, you can read more about sobriquets in the post “-Nyms That are Names.

A.k.a. sotbriquet, soubriquet

Spoonerism
Definition: A phonetic mix-up.

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Spooner said…	What He Meant to Say
fighting a liar	lighting a fire
you hissed my mystery lecture	you missed my history lecture
cattle ships and bruisers	battle ships and cruisers
nosey little cook	cosy little nook
a blushing crow	a crushing blow
tons of soil	sons of toil
our queer old Dean	our dear old Queen
we’ll have the hags flung out	we’ll have the flags hung out

Tom Swifty
Definition: Interpreting idioms literally and creating contradictions and redundancies.

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“Hurry up and get to the back of the ship,” Tom said sternly.

“I need a pencil sharpener,” said Tom bluntly.

“Oops! There goes my hat!” said Tom off the top of his head.

“I can no longer hear anything,” said Tom deftly.

“I have a split personality,” said Tom, being frank.

---

Credit to: Tom

Univocalic
Definition: A type of verbal play in which the writer may use only a single vowel.

A.k.a. homovocalic, monovocalic

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Richard Lederer’s The Word Circus notes that some of the longest common univocalic words use the vowel e.

anagram September Seventh strengthlessness senselessness defenselessness

disinhibiting strongrooms taramasalatas untruthful, untrustful dumbstruck

---

Paul Hellweg’s “Mary Had a Little Lamb” from Word Ways magazine:

“Meg kept the wee sheep,
The sheep’s fleece resembled sleet;
Then wherever Meg went
The sheep went there next;

He went where she needed her texts,
The precedent he neglected;
The pre-teen felt deep cheer
When the sheep entered there.”

---

Howard Bergerson’s “The Haiku of the Eyes” uses only i:

In twilight this spring

Girls with miniskirts will swim

In string bikinis.

---

Credit to: September

Wellerism
Definition: “A sentence with a speaker and a narrator; after the speaker speaks, the narrator adds commentary that undermines the sentiment of the speaker sometimes by changing the meaning of the speaker’s idea. Other times, the narrator offers description to show that, what the speaker said, may not be so true, after all.”

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“We’ll have to rehearse that,” said the undertaker, as the coffin fell out of the car.

“Everyone to his own taste,” the woman said, as she kissed her cow.

“It’s all coming back to me now,” Captain Smith remarked after he spat into the wind.

“Eureka!” Archimedes said to the skunk.

“Capital punishment,” the boy said when his teacher seated him among the girls.

“I’ve been to see an old flame,” the young man said when he returned from Vesuvius.

“I hope I made myself clear,” said the water, as it passed through the filter.

“That’s my mission in life,” said the monk, as he pointed to his monastery.

“My business is looking good,” said the model.

---

Credit to: Mittendorf

Zeugma
Definition: A figure of speech that uses a word to modify two or more words usually so that it applies to each word in a different sense or makes sense with only one.

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A zeugma is also a form of ellipsis as it omits words(s) that are superfluous or can be understood from contextual clues, although the sense can vary in its repetition.

It often creates a witty or comical effect.

4 Types of Zeugma:
(Depends on the location of the verb that functions as the shared connector.)

1. Diazeugma
   • Disjunction
2. Hypozeugma
3. Mesozeugma
4. Prozeugma

A.k.a. change in concord, concepcio, conceptio, conglutinata conceptio, double supply, grammatical syllepsis, semantic syllepsis, silepsis, sillepsis, syllempsis, syllepsis, synezeugmenon

…with weeping eyes and hearts

The zeugma weeping modifies both objects, but the first eyes is literal; the second, figurative as the heart can’t really weep.

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Margaret opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy.

The zeugma opened modifies both objects, but the first door is literal; the second, figurative as an opened heart is more surgical.

---

“Miss Bolo … went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan-chair.” – Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

The zeugma went . . . home modifies both objects, but the first a flood of tears is figurative; the second, literal.

---

She made my coffee and my day.

The zeugma is made which modifies coffee and day. In its first instance, made means preparing the coffee but the meaning shifts when applied to the second instance, made is understood to mean make an otherwise ordinary or dull day pleasingly memorable for someone.

---

She gave me a smile and a coffee.

The zeugma is gave which modifies smile and coffee. In its first instance, gave means she smiled at me but the meaning shifts when applied to the second instance, and gave is understood to mean handing a cup of coffee to me.

---

John and his license expired last week.

The zeugma is expired which modifies John and license. In its first instance, expired means John died but the meaning shifts when applied to the second instance, expired is understood to mean the license is no longer valid.

---

“Rend your heart, and not your garments.” – Joel 2:13

The zeugma rend modifies both objects, but the first rend is figurative; the second, literal.

---

“You held your breath and the door for me.” – Alanis Morissette

The zeugma is held which modifies breath and door. In its first instance, held means stop but the meaning shifts when applied to the second instance, held is understood to mean kept the door open.

---

“Fix the problem, not the blame.” – Dave Weinbaum

The zeugma is fix which modifies problem and blame. In its first instance, fix means solve but the meaning shifts when applied to the second instance, fix is understood to mean assign.

---

His boat and his dreams sank.

The zeugma is sank which modifies boat and dreams. In its first instance, sank means the boat was damaged and went beneath the surface of the water but the meaning shifts when applied to the second instance, sank is understood to mean destroyed.

---

Credit to: Burton, “Syllepsis”

Diazeugma
Definition: The use of a single subject that governs several verbs or verbal constructions (usually arranged in “parallel fashion and expressing a similar idea).

It’s the opposite of zeugma.

A.k.a. diezeugmenon

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“The Roman people destroyed Numantia, razed Carthage, demolished Corinth, and overthrew Fregellae.” – Rhetorica ad Herennium, IV, xxvii.

Of no aid to the Numantines was bodily strength; of no assistance to the Carthaginians was military science; of no help to the Corinthians was polished cleverness; of no avail to the Fregellans was fellowship with us in customs and in language.” – Rhetorica ad Herennium, IV, xxvii.

“We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” – John F. Kennedy

I couldn’t get to sleep because my report wasn’t finished, my psycho neighbor was playing with his musical clapper, the handgun my mother had given me was missing, and worst of all, my Sleep Number bed’s 5-part fully adjustable electric frame was stuck at 9. (Diazeugma).

And Thisbe, tarrying in mulberry shade, / His dagger drew, and died.

“With disease physical beauty fades, with age it dies.” – Rhetorica ad Herennium

“For this reason, to dwell with us in true flesh God came; marked with the stain of our flesh he could not be; and at length those who were his in his own blood he washed.”

---

Credit to: Abbot

Disjunction
Definition: A type of diazeugma used when alternatives are presented to a question and are each resolved by adding a reason in parallel fashion.

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“His evils are two: the fraud of simony, the coldness of avarice. He embraces both the one and the other, and does not abhor them.” – Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Poetria Nova, 63

“If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;
If not, why then this parting was well made.” – Shakespeare, Julius Caeser

“Why should I now reproach you in any way ? If you are an upright man, you have not deserved reproach; if a wicked man, you will be unmoved.” – Rhetorica ad Herennium

“Why should I now boast of my deserts? If you remember them, I shall weary you; if you have forgotten them, I have been ineffective in action, and therefore what could I effect by words?” – Rhetorica ad Herennium

“There are two things which can urge men to illicit gain: poverty and greed. That you were greedy in the division with your brother we know, that you are poor and destitute we
now see. How, therefore, can you show that you had no motive for the crime?” – Rhetorica ad Herennium

---

Credit to: Malton

Hypozeugma
Definition: Used in a construction containing several phrases and occurs when the word or words on which all of the phrases depend are placed at the end.

A.k.a. adjunction

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“Assure yourself that Damon to his Pythias, Pylades to his Orestes, Titus to his Gysippus, Theseus to his Pyrothus, Scipio to his Laelius, was never found more faithful than Euphues will be to his Philautus. – John Lyly, Euphues

Mesozeugma
Definition: A type of zeugma whose governing word occurs in the middle of the sentence and governs clauses on either side.

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“What a shame is this, that neither hope of reward, nor feare of reproch could any thing move him, neither the persuasion of his friends, nor the love of his country.” – Henry Peacham

Prozeugma
Definition: A zeugma whose governing word occurs in the first clause of the sentence.

A.k.a. protozeugma

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“Lust conquered shame; audacity, fear; madness, reason.” – Cicero, The Rhetoric of Pro Cluentio, VI, 15

“Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.” – Francis Bacon

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Grammar Explanations by exploring its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Word Confusions, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Word Play

Some of these links may be affiliate links, and I will earn a small percentage, if you should buy it. It does not affect the price you pay.

Abbot, Nike. “Diazeugma.” Rhetorical Figures. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://rhetfig.appspot.com/view?id=ag1zfnJoZXRmaWctaHJkchgLEhBSaGV0b3JpY2FsRmlndXJlGNSMAQw>.

“Antanaclasis.” Literary Devices.net. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://literarydevices.net/antanaclasis/>.

“Antanaclasis.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antanaclasis>.

“Assonance.” Literary Devices.net. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://literarydevices.net/assonance/>.

“Autoantonym Meaning.” Vocabulary. Grammar Terminology. English Grammar. Using English. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/autoantonym.html>.

“Autogram.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogram>.

Barber, Dr M. “A Collection of Humorous Mondegreens.” University of Houston. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://www.uh.edu/~mbarber/mondegreens.html>.

“Blanagram.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanagram>.

Branch, Megan. “10 Literary Terms You Might Not Know.” Literary Terms. Oxford University Press. 27 Mar 2009. Web. n.d. <https://blog.oup.com/2009/03/literary-terms/>.

Burton, Gideon O. “Antistasis.” Silva Rhetoricae (rhetoric.byu.edu). Brigham Young University. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/A/antistasis.htm>.

⸻. “Paregmenon.” Silva Rhetoricae (rhetoric.byu.edu). Brigham Young University. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/P/paregmenon.htm>.

⸻. “Paronomasia.” Silva Rhetoricae (rhetoric.byu.edu). Brigham Young University. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/P/paronomasia.htm>.

⸻. “Syllepsis.” Silva Rhetoricae (rhetoric.byu.edu). Brigham Young University. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/S/syllepsis.htm>.

“Bushism.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushism>.

Carey, Stan. “Resolving a Usage Dilemma.” Learn English. Macmillan Dictionary. 2019. Web. 6 Mar 2023. <https://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/resolving-a-usage-dilemma>.

“Catalectic.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalectic>.

Christopher, Thomas. “To Wit: An E-zine On How To Be a Wit.” Tools of Wit. 4 Jun 2007. Web. n.d. <http://www.toolsofwit.com/ToWit/Ezine06-04-07.html>.

Croll, Morris W. Style, Rhetoric, and Rhythm: Essays. Princeton University Press, New Jersey: 1966. <http://press.princeton.edu/titles/3953.html> OR <https://amzn.to/3YtSGOi>. Print.

Dean, Deborah. Bringing Grammar to Life. Intl Reading Assn: 2007. <https://amzn.to/3ygPHhG>. Print.

“Diazeugma.” Daily Trope. Silva Rhetoricae (rhetoric.byu.edu). 18 Feb 2013. Web. n.d. <https://dailytrope.com/2013/02/18/diazeugma-3/>.

“Dog Latin.” Collins Dictionary. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/dog-latin>.

“Dog Latin or Pig Latin?” Latin4Everyone. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://latin4everyone.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/dog-latin-or-pig-latin/>.

“Engrish.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engrish>.

“Epanadiplosis Definition.” YourDictionary.com. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/epanadiplosis#ADFqmjSVo52QDVMm.99>.

“Epitaph.” Literary Devices.net. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://literarydevices.net/epitaph/>.

Fallon, Matthew. “How the English Language Came to Be: A Brief History.” Language Trainers. 17 Jan 2012. Web. n.d. <https://www.languagetrainers.com/blog/2012/01/17/anglish-english-without-all-the-borrowed-words/>.

Gay, Patricia. “Poetry Friday: Playful Palindromes.” Expect the Unexpected. 24 May 2013. Web. n.d. <https://patriciagay.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/poetry-friday-playful-palindromes/>.

Gunner, Jennifer. “Examples of Puns: Exploring What They are and Different Types.” Examples. YourDictionary.com. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-puns.html#3ORvVRKxiHHFy34k.99>.

Hall, Heather. “Say What? The Best Chinglish from Two Years in China.” Ferreting Out the Fun. 26 June 2017. Web. n.d. <http://www.ferretingoutthefun.com/2013/12/04/best-chinglish-signs/>.

“Internal Rhyme.” Literary Devices.com. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://literarydevices.com/internal-rhyme/>.

“Ischiorrhogic.” Oxford Dictionaries. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ischiorrhogic>.

Jones, Paul Anthony. “21 Rhetorical Devices Explained.” Mental Floss. n.d. Web. 6 Sept 2020. <https://getpocket.com/explore/item/21-rhetorical-devices-explained>.

“List of Forms of Word Play.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_forms_of_word_play>.

“Macaronic Language.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaronic_language>.

Malton, Ioanna. “Rosapodosis.” Rhetorical Figures. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://rhetfig.appspot.com/view?id=ag1zfnJoZXRmaWctaHJkchgLEhBSaGV0b3JpY2FsRmlndXJlGNqzAQw>.

Mittendorf, M.J. “Wellerisms.” The Island English Tutor. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://www.theislandenglishtutor.com/wellerisms.html>.

Nelson, Mark J. “Word-unit Palindromes.” kmjn.org. 7 Feb 2012. Web. n.d. <http://www.kmjn.org/notes/word_unit_palindromes.html>.

Nichol, Mark. “10 Types of Wordplay.” Daily Writing Tips. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-types-of-wordplay/>.

Nordquist, Richard. “5 Words That Don’t Mean What You Think They Mean.” ThoughtCo. 5 Oct 2018. Web. 6 Mar 2023. <https://www.thoughtco.com/do-words-mean-what-you-think-1692794>.

⸻. “Paragram (Word Play).” ThoughtCo. Last updated 12 Feb 2020. Web. n.d. <http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/paragramterm.htm>.

⸻. “Paraprosdokian.” ThoughtCo. 25 Nov 2019. Web. n.d. <http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/Paraprosdokian.htm>.

⸻. “What is Antistasis?” ThoughtCo. Last updated 12 Feb 2020. Web. n.d. <http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/antistasisterm.htm>.

“Palindrome.” Literary Devices.net. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://literarydevices.net/palindrome/>.

“Panagram.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangram>.

“Paregmenon.” Changing Minds. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://changingminds.org/techniques/language/figures_speech/paregmenon.htm>.

“Prosody.” Literary Devices.net. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://literarydevices.net/prosody/>.

“Pun.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun>.

“Rhyme Scheme.” Literary Devices. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://literarydevices.net/rhyme-scheme/>.

“September Seventh: Univocalic Day.” Word Daze. 7 Sept 2009. Web. n.d. <http://worddaze.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-seventh-univocalic-day.html>.

“Sibilance.” Literary Devices.net. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://literarydevices.net/sibilance/>.

“Slipshod Extension.” Grammar Book. n.d. Web. 6 Mar 2023. <https://www.grammarbook.com/homonyms/slipshod-extension.asp>.

“Synchysis.” Changing Minds. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://changingminds.org/techniques/language/figures_speech/synchysis.htm>.

“Tautogram.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautogram>.

“Tom Swifties.” Fun with Words. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://www.fun-with-words.com/tom_swifties.html>.

“Ubbi Dubbi.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubbi_dubbi>.

Weisberg, Jacob. “The Complete Bushisms.” Slate. 20 Mar 2009. Web. n.d. <http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bushisms/2000/03/the_complete_bushisms.html>.

Wessel, Fergus. “Headstone Epitaphs – 250 Beautiful Examples.” Stoneletters. 1 Nov 2015. Web. n.d. <https://stoneletters.com/blog/memorial-quotes-headstone-epitaphs>.

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Pinterest Photo Credits

UpWords Board in Play by Cornelius Brunson is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Word play or wordplay^[1] (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonetic mix-ups such as spoonerisms, obscure words and meanings, clever rhetorical excursions, oddly formed sentences, double entendres, and telling character names (such as in the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Ernest being a given name that sounds exactly like the adjective earnest).

Word play is quite common in oral cultures as a method of reinforcing meaning. Examples of text-based (orthographic) word play are found in languages with or without alphabet-based scripts, such as homophonic puns in Mandarin Chinese.

Techniques[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2010)

Some techniques often used in word play include interpreting idioms literally and creating contradictions and redundancies, as in Tom Swifties:

«Hurry up and get to the back of the ship,» Tom said sternly.

Linguistic fossils and set phrases are often manipulated for word play, as in Wellerisms:

«We’ll have to rehearse that,» said the undertaker as the coffin fell out of the car.

Another use of fossils is in using antonyms of unpaired words – «I was well-coiffed and sheveled,» (back-formation from «disheveled»).

Examples[edit]

Most writers engage in word play to some extent, but certain writers are particularly committed to, or adept at, word play as a major feature of their work . Shakespeare’s «quibbles» have made him a noted punster. Similarly, P.G. Wodehouse was hailed by The Times as a «comic genius recognized in his lifetime as a classic and an old master of farce» for his own acclaimed wordplay.^{[citation needed]} James Joyce, author of Ulysses, is another noted word-player. For example, in his Finnegans Wake Joyce’s phrase «they were yung and easily freudened» clearly implies the more conventional «they were young and easily frightened»; however, the former also makes an apt pun on the names of two famous psychoanalysts, Jung and Freud.

An epitaph, probably unassigned to any grave, demonstrates use in rhyme.

Here lie the bones of one ‘Bun’

He was killed with a gun.

His name was not ‘Bun’ but ‘Wood’

But ‘Wood’ would not rhyme with gun

But ‘Bun’ would.

Crossword puzzles often employ wordplay to challenge solvers. Cryptic crosswords especially are based on elaborate systems of wordplay.

An example of modern word play can be found on line 103 of Childish Gambino’s «III. Life: The Biggest Troll».

H2O plus my D, that’s my hood, I’m living in it

Rapper Milo uses a play on words in his verse on «True Nen»^[2]

Keep any heat by the fine China dinner set

Your man’s caught the chill and it ain’t even winter yet

A farmer says, «I got soaked for nothing, stood out there in the rain bang in the middle of my land, a complete waste of time. I’ll like to kill the swine who said you can win the Nobel Prize for being out standing in your field!».

Eminem is known for the extensive wordplay in the lyrics of his music.

The Mario Party series is known for its mini-game titles that usually are puns and various plays on words; for example: «Shock, Drop, and Roll», «Gimme a Brake», and «Right Oar Left». These mini-game titles are also different depending on regional differences and take into account that specific region’s culture.

[edit]

Word play can enter common usage as neologisms.

Word play is closely related to word games; that is, games in which the point is manipulating words. See also language game for a linguist’s variation.

Word play can cause problems for translators: e.g. in the book Winnie-the-Pooh a character mistakes the word «issue» for the noise of a sneeze, a resemblance which disappears when the word «issue» is translated into another language.

See also[edit]

• Etymology
• False etymology
• Figure of speech
• List of forms of word play
• List of taxa named by anagrams
• Metaphor
• Phono-semantic matching
• Simile
• Pun

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• A categorized taxonomy of word play composed of record-holding words

• 1
  play on words
  
  

  Large English-Russian phrasebook > play on words

• 2
  play on words
  
  

  play on words игра слов, каламбур;

  Англо-русский словарь Мюллера > play on words

• 3
  play on words
  
  

  Англо-русский синонимический словарь > play on words

• 4
  play of words
  
  

  игра словами, фразёрство; краснобайство ; тж. a play on words

  The speeches of Thucydides everywhere exhibit the antitheses, the climaxes, the plays of words… of the rhetoriciain. (B. Jowett, ‘Thucydides’, OED) — Речи Фукидида изобилуют антитезами, нарастаниями и прочими словесными фокусами риторики.

  Large English-Russian phrasebook > play of words

• 5
  play of words
  
  

     игpa cлoвaми, фpaзёpcтвo, кpacнoбaйcтвo (

  нe cмeшивaть

  c pуccк. игpa cлoв cм. a play on words)

  The speeches of Thucydides everywhere exhibit the antitheses, the climaxes, the plays of words of the rhetorician (B. Jowett)

  Concise English-Russian phrasebook > play of words

• 6
  play on words
  
  

  Большой англо-русский и русско-английский словарь > play on words

• 7
  play of words
  
  

  Универсальный англо-русский словарь > play of words

• 8
  play on words
  
  

  Универсальный англо-русский словарь > play on words

• 9
  play upon words
  
  

  Универсальный англо-русский словарь > play upon words

• 10
  play on words
  
  

  игра слов, каламбур

  каламбурить

  Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь > play on words

• 11
  play upon words
  
  

  игра слов, каламбур

  каламбурить

  Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь > play upon words

• 12
  play on words
  
  

  игра слов, каламбур

  * * *

  1. игра слов
  2. каламбурить

  Новый англо-русский словарь > play on words

• 13
  play upon words
  
  

  Новый англо-русский словарь > play upon words

• 14
  a play on words
  
  

  To a Latin or French speaker the name of Urse might have suggested an easy play upon words. (E. Freeman, ‘The History of the Norman Conquest’, ch. XVIII) — Для человека, говорящего на латыни или по-французски, имя Урс легко становилось источником каламбуров.

  Large English-Russian phrasebook > a play on words

• 15
  a play upon words
  
  

  Concise English-Russian phrasebook > a play upon words

• 16
  (a) play of words
  
  

  English-Russian combinatory dictionary > (a) play of words

• 17
  a play on words
  
  

  Универсальный англо-русский словарь > a play on words

• 18
  a play upon words
  
  

  Универсальный англо-русский словарь > a play upon words

• 19
  play
  
  

  play [pleɪ]

  1) игра́; заба́ва;

  2) мане́ра игры́, игра́

  3) пье́са, дра́ма; представле́ние, спекта́кль;

  4) де́йствие, де́ятельность;

  5) свобо́да, просто́р;

  6) движе́ние

  7) аза́ртная игра́

  перели́вы, игра́;

  9)

  тех.

  зазо́р; игра́; люфт; свобо́дный ход; шата́ние (части механизма, прибора)

  1) игра́ть, резви́ться, забавля́ться;

  2) игра́ть на музыка́льном инструме́нте;

  4) приводи́ть в де́йствие, пуска́ть;

  5) игра́ть (в

  кино

  , театре);

  6) дава́ть представле́ние ( о труппе)

  7) игра́ть роль (кого-л.), быть (кем-л.);

  сыгра́ть ( шутку), разыгра́ть;

  9) игра́ть в аза́ртные и́гры

  10) игра́ть (на чём-л.), воспо́льзоваться (чем-л.);

  to play in favour of smb., smth. благоприя́тствовать кому́-л., чему́-л.

  11) игра́ть (во что-л., на что-л.), уча́ствовать в игре́;

  12) подходи́ть для игры́, быть в хоро́шем состоя́нии;

  14) ходи́ть (шашкой, картой)

  15)

  спорт.

  отбива́ть, подава́ть ( мяч)

  16) порха́ть, носи́ться; танцева́ть;

  17) бить ( о фонтане); перелива́ться, игра́ть; мелька́ть;

  18) притворя́ться, прики́дываться

  19) направля́ть ( свет

  и т.п.

  ; on, over, along — на что-л.); обстре́ливать (on, upon);

  20) дать (вре́мя) ( рыбе) хорошо́ клю́нуть

  21)

  разг.

  поступа́ть, де́йствовать;

  22) свобо́дно владе́ть;

  а) манипули́ровать, подтасо́вывать;

  б)

  разг.

  заводи́ть любо́вную интри́жку;

  а) натра́вливать ( against — на);

  б) сыгра́ть повто́рную па́ртию по́сле ничье́й;

  play on игра́ть (на чьих-л. чувствах);

  а) разы́грывать (кого-л.);

  б) капри́зничать, пристава́ть;

  в) стара́ться игра́ть как мо́жно лу́чше;

  д) вести́ себя́ му́жественно, герои́чески;

  to play into the hands of smb. сыгра́ть на́ руку кому́-л.

  ;

  to play it low on smb. разг. по́дло поступи́ть по отноше́нию к кому́-л.

  ;

  Англо-русский словарь Мюллера > play

• 20
  play upon
  
  

  play upon играть (на чьих-л. чувствах); to play upon words каламбурить;Politicians often win votes by playing upon the electors’ distrust of theparty in power.

  Англо-русский словарь Мюллера > play upon

Word play is verbal wit: the manipulation of language (in particular, the sounds and meanings of words) with the intent to amuse. Also known as logology and verbal play.

Most young children take great pleasure in word play, which T. Grainger and K. Goouch characterize as a «subversive activity . . . through which children experience the emotional charge and power of their own words to overturn the status quo and to explore boundaries («Young Children and Playful Language» in Teaching Young Children, 1999)

Examples and Observations of Word Play

• Antanaclasis
  «Your argument is sound, nothing but sound.» — playing on the dual meaning of «sound» as a noun signifying something audible and as an adjective meaning «logical» or «well-reasoned.»
  (Benjamin Franklin)
• Double Entendre
  «I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.» — playing on «drift» being a verb of motion as well as a noun denoting a snowbank.
  (Mae West)
• Malaphor
  «Senator McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I’m green behind the ears.» — mixing two metaphors: «wet behind the ears» and «green,» both of which signify inexperience.
  (Senator Barack Obama, Oct. 2008)
• Malapropism
  «Why not? Play captains against each other, create a little dysentery in the ranks.» — using «dysentery» instead of the similar-sounding «dissent» to comic effect.
  (Christopher Moltisanti in The Sopranos)
• Paronomasia and Puns
  «Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.» — riffing on the similarity of «quoted» to «quartered» as in «drawn and quartered.»
  (Fred Allen)
• «Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.»
  (credited to Tom Waits)
• «Once you are dead you are dead. That last day idea. Knocking them all up out of their graves. Come forth, Lazarus! And he came fifth and lost the job.»
  (James Joyce, Ulysses, 1922)
• «I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
  My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
  But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son
  Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
  And having done that, Thou hast done;
  I fear no more.»
  (John Donne, «A Hymn to God the Father»)
• Sniglet
  pupkus, the moist residue left on a window after a dog presses its nose to it. — a made-up word that sounds like «pup kiss,» since no actual word for this exists.
• Syllepsis
  «When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes.» — a figure of speech in which a single word is applied to two others in two different senses (here, raising one’s voice and raising one’s hopes).
  (E.B. White, «Dog Training»)
• Tongue Twisters
  «Chester chooses chestnuts, cheddar cheese with chewy chives. He chews them and he chooses them. He chooses them and he chews them. . . . those chestnuts, cheddar cheese and chives in cheery, charming chunks.» — repetition of the «ch» sound.
  (Singing in the Rain, 1952)

Language Use as a Form of Play

«Jokes and witty remarks (including puns and figurative language) are obvious instances of word-play in which most of us routinely engage. But it is also possible to regard a large part of all language use as a form of play. Much of the time speech and writing are not primarily concerned with the instrumental conveying of information at all, but with the social interplay embodied in the activity itself. In fact, in a narrowly instrumental, purely informational sense most language use is no use at all. Moreover, we are all regularly exposed to a barrage of more or less overtly playful language, often accompanied by no less playful images and music. Hence the perennial attraction (and distraction) of everything from advertising and pop songs to newspapers, panel games, quizzes, comedy shows, crosswords, Scrabble and graffiti.»
(Rob Pope, The English Studies Book: An Introduction to Language, Literature and Culture, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2002)

Word Play in the Classroom

«We believe the evidence base supports using word play in the classroom. Our belief relates to these four research-grounded statements about word play:

— Word play is motivating and an important component of the word-rich classroom.
— Word play calls on students to reflect metacognitively on words, word parts, and context.
— Word play requires students to be active learners and capitalizes on possibilities for the social construction of meaning.
— Word play develops domains of word meaning and relatedness as it engages students in practice and rehearsal of words.»

(Camille L. Z. Blachowicz and Peter Fisher, «Keeping the ‘Fun’ in Fundamental: Encouraging Word Awareness and Incidental Word Learning in the Classroom Through Word Play.» Vocabulary Instruction: Research to Practice, ed. by James F. Baumann and Edward J. Kameenui. Guilford, 2004)

Shakespeare’s Word Play

«Wordplay was a game the Elizabethans played seriously. Shakespeare’s first audience would have found a noble climax in the conclusion of Mark Antony’s lament over Caesar:

O World! thou wast the Forrest to this Hart
And this indeed, O World, the Hart of thee,

just as they would have relished the earnest pun of Hamlet’s reproach to Gertrude:

Could you on this faire Mountaine leave to feed,
And batten on this Moore?

To Elizabethan ways of thinking, there was plenty of authority for these eloquent devices. It was to be found in Scripture (Tu es Petrus . . .) and in the whole line of rhetoricians, from Aristotle and Quintilian, through the neo-classical textbooks that Shakespeare read perforce at school, to the English writers such as Puttenham whom he read later for his own advantage as a poet.»
(M. M. Mahood, Shakespeare’s Wordplay. Routledge, 1968)

Found Word-Play

«A few years ago I was sitting at a battered desk in my room in the funky old wing of the Pioneer Inn, Lahaina, Maui, when I discovered the following rhapsody scratched with ballpoint pen into the soft wooden bottom of the desk drawer.

Saxaphone
Saxiphone
Saxophone
Saxyphone
Saxephone
Saxafone

Obviously, some unknown traveler—drunk, stoned, or simply Spell-Check deprived—had been penning a postcard or letter when he or she ran headlong into Dr. Sax’s marvelous instrument. I have no idea how the problem was resolved, but the confused attempt struck me as a little poem, an ode to the challenges of our written language.»
(Tom Robbins, «Send Us a Souvenir From the Road.» Wild Ducks Flying Backward, Bantam, 2005)

Alternate Spellings: wordplay, word-play

Предложения:
play on words

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать грубую лексику.

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать разговорную лексику.

For example, if you dream of kissing an actor this may be a play on words.

Например, если вы мечтаете поцеловать актера, это может быть игра слов.

It was literally… a play on words.

A play on words cannot be translated literally without losing its original meaning.

Игру слов нельзя буквально перевести, поскольку при этом будет утрачено исходное значение.

A play on words is one thing; the real meaning is something else.

Игра слов — это одно, истинное значение — другое.

The sign contains a play on words, using the word «fencing» to mean «distancing».

Плакат содержит игру слов, используя слово «отгораживаться» в значении «дистанцироваться».

A good method because it involves at its core — a joke, a play on words.

Хороший метод, так как он предполагает в своей основе — шутку, игру слов.

The above title is more than just a play on words.

В этом названии — нечто большее, чем просто игра слов.

I think that this is more of a play on words.

Я бы сказал, что это больше игра слов.

This joke is a play on words.

В этой шутке юмор заключается в игре слов.

There is a play on words here in the original.

В оригинале здесь присутствует игра слов.

The design concept is based on a play on words.

Рекламная концепция строилась на игре слов.

The names are probably a play on words as they all end with the «zaru» verb.

Имена, вероятно, являются игрой слов, поскольку все они заканчиваются глаголом «зару».

It may reflect your restaurant’s theme or its location, or simply be a play on words.

Оно может отображать ресторанную концепцию, географическое место, или же просто быть игрой слов.

The name is also a play on words.

Также само название содержит игру слов.

The name Manuela is actually a play on words.

На самом деле, название «Макарена» является игрой слов.

There is a play on words here that gets lost in the translation.

«Здесь еще есть игра слов, которая в переводе теряется.

There is really something ridiculous about talking and writing; a real conversation is just a play on words.

«Воистину говорить и писать — забавная штука; настоящий разговор — это чистая игра слов.

Another money laundering is planned due to a play on words

Намечается очередной отмыв денег, благодаря игре слов

In any event, I think the ‘golden age’ is more of a play on words.

Хотя, по большому счету, все «эпохи» скорее игра слов.

This TRB root involves a play on words characteristic of Sufic thinking.

Корень ТРБ участвует в игре слов, характерной для суфийского мышления.

Ничего не найдено для этого значения.

Результатов: 150. Точных совпадений: 150. Затраченное время: 53 мс

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Индекс слова: 1-300, 301-600, 601-900

Индекс выражения: 1-400, 401-800, 801-1200

Индекс фразы: 1-400, 401-800, 801-1200

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