Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Paronomasia

Meaning: a pun, wordplay based on words that sound alike

Usefulness: 2 (it'd be more useful if I could think of a pun)

Logofascination: 1 (it's from an old Greek term, and there is something that appeals in the idea that puns are part of the human condition)

In the wild: Aldous Huxley's Antic Hay:  "It was between Whitfield Street and the Tottenham Court Road, in a ‘heavenly Mews’, as he liked to call it (for he had a characteristic weakness for philosophical paronomosia)".

Degrees: 2

Connections: paronomasia - words

Which is used in: G&P, First Book, V: The Discourse of the Drinkers.
"What difference is there between a bottle and a flagon? Great difference; for the bottle is stopped and shut up with a stopple, but the flagon with a vice (La bouteille est fermee a bouchon, et le flaccon a vis.). Bravely and well played upon the words!" 
There's a rather rude pun in the French, apparently, which neither Sir Thomas nor Mr Frame have managed to render amusing.

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