"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Zeugma

Zeugma (pronounced ZOOg-muh) is a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses.  It means the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words usually in such a way that it applies to each in a different sense (as in "She left in a huff and a Chevy" or  "John and his licence expired last week" .)

It looks like a good word for Scrabble or Bananagrams.   

1 comment:

  1. It also describes the mind-set of the editor of the New York Times daily crossword puzzle! :o)

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