Playing with Words

1. Playing with Words Lexicon; Section π

2. Woosh! Words and Sound

3. “Don't dream it. Drive it.” -Jaguar Effects reinforces meaning unifies ideas supplies a musical sound echoes the sense of the passage Definition • The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words Alliteration The silky snake subtly slithered…

4. Examples “struts and frets” Pitter-patter Short and sweet Definition • Identical consonant sounds are preceded by a different vowel sound • Usually, the last or last accented syllable Consonance “Let the boy try along this bayonet-blade / How cold steel is, and keen with hunger of blood.” – Wilfred Owen

5. Examples “It beats … as it sweeps … as it cleans!" – Hoover vacuum "I must confess that in my quest I felt depressed and restless.“ – Thin Lizzy? Definition • The repetition of the same vowel sound in nearby words Assonance

6. Assonance CONSONANCE RHYME Assonance + Consonance = Rhyme! Sound of the Pound

7. Examples “Bang!,” “whistle,” “choo-choo!” “My stick fingers click with a snicker / And, chuckling, they knuckle the keys.” - Updike Definition • A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. Onomatopoeia

8. Be aware of euphonious and cacophonous language too! Don’t Forget

9. Playing with Words

10. intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. • A witty statement is humorous, while suggesting the speaker’s verbal power in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks. • usually uses terse language that makes a pointed statement. Wit Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

11. Examples “My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow” – Andrew Marvel There are a million examples of hyperbole! Definition • A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement • The literal Greek meaning is “overshoot.” Hyperbole

12. Examples “Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse” – Jonathan Swift Definition It’s just a flesh wound! • the ironic minimalizing of fact, a statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said • presents something as less significant than it is • can be humorous and emphatic Understatement

13. Examples That’s not a bad idea… “If you can tell the fair one's mind, it will be no small proof of your art, for I dare say it is more than she herself can do.” --Alexander Pope Definition • A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite • intensifies the sentiment intended by the writer, and creates the effect of strong feelings moderately conveyed. Litotes I will not be sad to see Christmas time begin.

14. Examples “earthly remains” for “corpse” “pre-owned” for “used” Definition • From the Greek for “good speech” • a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept. • may be used to adhere to standards of social or political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement. Hyperbole “Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.” - Quentin Crisp

15. "I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.“ -Mother Teresa Examples “I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” – Henry David Thoreau Definition • A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity. • A seemingly contradictory statement that exposes greater truths Paradox For Mr. Egan

16. Examples “"How is it possible to have a civil war?” – George Carlin “I must be cruel only to be kind.” – William Shakespeare Definition • From the Greek for “pointedly foolish” • a figure of speech wherein the author groups or juxtaposes apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox Oxymoron Who are you callin’ jumbo?

17. Examples A new type of broom came out, it is sweeping the nation. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.“ – Groucho Marx Definition • play on words • uses two meanings of word • Not necessarily for humor Pun

18. Examples “Your argument is sound...all sound.” —Benjamin Franklin “If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” —Vince Lombardi Definition • Repetition of a word in two different senses • The repetition of a word or phrase whose meaning changes in the second instance. Antanaclasis

19. “We must all hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin Examples “Fix the problem, not the blame." —Dave Weinbaum “He lost his hat and his temper” Definition • When a single word that governs or modifies two or more others must be understood differently with respect to each of those words. • Use of one word and two completers to force two meanings Syllepsis

20. Examples “Your children need your presence more than your presents.” – Jesse Jackson “A pun is its own reword” Definition • use of words alike in sound, different in meaning .” Paronomasia