Antanaclasis
In rhetoric, antanaclasis (from Greek antanáklasis, meaning reflection, echo) is the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.
Examples
- A famous example of antanaclasis is seen in William Shakespeare's Henry V when the King sends the French ambassadors back to their master with an answer to the insulting gift of tennis-balls. He says, "for many a thousand widows/ Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands; Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down;" (HENRY V, I, ii, 284-286)
- "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." —Benjamin Franklin
- "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm." —Vince Lombardi
- "The long cigarette that's long on flavor." —from an advertisement for Pall Mall cigarettes
- "Sorry, Charlie. StarKist doesn't want tunas with good taste — StarKist wants tunas that taste good." —from 1980s StarKist tuna advertisements
- "Put out the light, then put out the light." —Shakespeare's Othello
- "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." -Groucho Marx [1]
- "Working hard or hardly working?"
- "If you don't get it, you don't get it." —The Washington Post slogan
- "She is nice from far, but far from nice!" - Popular.
- "'Stop or I'll shoot!' 'Shoot and I will stop!'" - Sweeney Todd
References
- Michael Moncur's (Cynical) Quotations. Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
- Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
See also
- Figure of speech
- Pun
- Rhetoric
- Syllepsis
- List of linguistic example sentences
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Antanaclasis". Image Credit.
