Word play

"Wordplay" redirects here. For other uses, seeWordplay (disambiguation).

Artist Tavar Zawacki painted a site-specific wordplay painting inLima, Peru,commenting on thecocainecrisis and exportation.

Word playorwordplay(also:play-on-words) is aliterary techniqueand a form ofwitin which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect oramusement.Examples of word play includepuns,phonetic mix-ups such asspoonerisms,obscure words and meanings, cleverrhetoricalexcursions, oddly formed sentences,double entendres,and telling character names (such as in the playThe Importance of Being Earnest,Ernestbeing agiven namethat sounds exactly like the adjectiveearnest).

Word play is quite common inoral culturesas a method of reinforcing meaning. Examples of text-based (orthographic) word play are found in languages with or without Alpha bet-based scripts, such ashomophonic puns in Mandarin Chinese.

Techniques

Tom Swifties

A form of humorous writing where adverbs are chosen to reflect the nature of the situation in apunningway. "Hurry up and get to the back of the ship," Tom saidsternly.

Wellerisms

Usinglinguistic fossilsandset phrases.Example: "We'll have to rehearse that," said the undertaker as the coffin fell out of the car.

Unpaired words:Deliberate use of unusual or obsolete antonyms, such as "I was well-coiffed and sheveled," (back-formationfrom "disheveled" ).

Spoonerism

An accidental and often humorous transposition of initial letters or sounds, such as "a flock of bats" instead of "a block of flats" or "a bunny phone" instead of "a funny bone".

Malapropism

Replacing a word with a different word that sounds similar, either unintentionally or for comedic effect. For example, saying "He is the very pineapple of politeness." instead ofpinnacle

Anthimeria

Altering a word's regular part of speech. This can occur naturally with the evolution of a language, but can also be done for emphasis or comedic effect. For example, saying "The thunder would not peace at my bidding." using the nounpeaceas a verb,or "The little old lady turtled across the street."

Double entendre

Words or phrases with multiple meanings are used ambiguously with a humorous or sexual (or both) result. For example, Mae West's "Marriage is a fine institution, but I'm not ready for an institution."and the Groucho Marx line "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"

Portmanteau

Combining two words to create a new word, such assmokeandfogto makesmog.

Examples

Many businesses use word play to their advantage by making their business names more memorable. This business is located near theUnited Nations Headquartersand plays on the termUN Peacekeepers.

This business's sign is written in both English and Hebrew. The large character is used to make the ’N’ in Emanuel and the ‘מ’ in עמנואל. This is an example of orthographic word play.

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. Wodehousewas hailed byThe Timesas a "comic genius recognized in his lifetime as a classic and an old master of farce" for his own acclaimed wordplay.James Joyce,author ofUlysses,is another noted word-player. For example, in hisFinnegans WakeJoyce'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 famouspsychoanalysts,JungandFreud.

Anepitaph,probably unassigned to anygrave,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 puzzlesoften employ wordplay to challenge solvers.Cryptic crosswordsespecially are based on elaborate systems of wordplay.

An example of modern word play can be found on line 103 ofChildish Gambino's "III. Life: The Biggest Troll".

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

RapperMilouses a play on words in his verse on "True Nen"

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 theNobel Prizefor being out standing in your field! ".

TheMario Partyseries 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 onregional differencesand take into account that specific region's culture.

Related phenomena

Word play can enter common usage asneologisms.

Word play is closely related toword games;that is, games in which the point is manipulating words. See alsolanguage gamefor a linguist's variation.

Word play can cause problems for translators: e.g., in the bookWinnie-the-Pooha character mistakes the word "issue" for the noise of asneeze,a resemblance which disappears when the word "issue" is translated into another language.

See also

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

External links

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