Antanaclasis
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In rhetoric, antanaclasis (; from the el, ἀντανάκλασις, ''antanáklasis'', meaning "reflection", from ἀντί ''anti'', "against", ἀνά ''ana'', "up" and κλάσις ''klásis'' "breaking") is the literary
trope Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
in which a single word or phrase is repeated, but in two different senses. Antanaclasis is a common type of
pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in
slogans A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group. T ...
.Corbett and Connors, 1999. p.62-63


Examples

*Your argument is ''sound'', nothing but ''sound''. —
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
. The word ''sound'' in the first instance means "solid" or "reasonable". The second instance of ''sound'' means "noise".My English Pages. Retrieved 09 June, 2018. https://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/writing-antanaclasis.phpCorbett and Connors, 1999. p.63 *Although we're ''apart'', you're still ''a part'' of me. — Lyrics from "
Blueberry Hill "Blueberry Hill" is a popular American song published in 1940, best remembered for its 1950s rock and roll version by Fats Domino. The music was written by Vincent Rose, the lyrics by Larry Stock and Al Lewis. It was recorded six times in 1940 ...
" by
Fats Domino Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...
. *Time isn't ''wasted'', when you're getting ''wasted''. — Lyrics from " I Love College (song)" by
Asher Roth Asher Paul Roth (born August 11, 1985) is an American rapper. He is best known for his debut single "I Love College". Roth released his debut studio album ''Asleep in the Bread Aisle'', on April 20, 2009, by Universal Motown, SRC, and School Bo ...
*And meet me in the ''john'', ''John'', meet me in the ''john'', ''John''. — Lyrics from "My Bag" by
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Lloyd Cole and the Commotions were a British rock/pop band that formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1982. Between 1984 and 1989, the band scored four Top 20 albums and five Top 40 singles in the UK; it also had success in several other countries in ...
. *“In Genua, someone set out to make ''dreams'' come true... Remember some of your ''dreams''?” –
Sir Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first nove ...
. The first usage of ''dreams'' refers to aspirations or desires, while the second refers to literal dreams. *In Genesis 40:13 and 40:19, Joseph interprets two dreams and uses "lift up your head" to deliver two messages—one positive and the other, negative—to the two prisoners. *The word ''that'' is repeated five times in the sentence That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is, which has various meanings, depending on how it is punctuated. *''Had'' is repeated eleven times in the sentence
James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher "James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher" is an English sentence used to demonstrate lexical ambiguity and the necessity of punctuation, which serves as a substitute for the intonation, stress ...
, which can be read differently depending on punctuation and intonation. *''Buffalo'' is repeated eight times, and has three different meanings ( a city, an animal, and a verb), in "
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * Bubalina, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York Buffalo or buffaloes may also refer to: Animals * Bubalina, a subtribe of the t ...
". *The Chinese poem " Shī-shì shí shī shǐ" ("Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den") by
Yuen Ren Chao Yuen Ren Chao (; 3 November 1892 – 25 February 1982), also known as Zhao Yuanren, was a Chinese-American linguist, educator, scholar, poet, and composer, who contributed to the modern study of Chinese phonology and grammar. Chao was born a ...
. The words are written differently in the original language (
Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...
), and are pronounced as the same syllable (some with different tones) when read aloud in modern Standard Mandarin.


Shakespeare

*Put out the ''light'', then put out the ''light''. — From '' Othello''. Othello utters these words to himself as he enters
Desdemona Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a Moorish Venetian ...
's chamber while she sleeps, intending to murder her. The first instance of put the light out means he will quench the candle, and the second instance means he will end the life of Desdemona. *I will ''dissemble'' myself in't; and I would I were the first that ever ''dissembled'' in such a gown. — In ''
Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...
'', the fool
Feste Feste is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's comedy ''Twelfth Night''. He is a Shakespearian fool, fool (royal jester) attached to the household of the Olivia (Twelfth Night), Countess Olivia. He has apparently been there for some time ...
, where ''dissemble'' changes from "disguise" to "act hypocritically". *Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy ''Will''
And ''Will'' to boot, and ''Will'' in overplus... —
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's
Sonnet 135 In Shakespeare's Sonnet 135, the speaker appeals to his mistress after having been rejected by her. Synopsis In the first quatrain of the sonnet, the speaker pledges himself to the mistress, while he humbly refers to himself as "I that vex th ...
. The speaker is named Will, but the woman he is addressing has another lover who is also named Will. In this sonnet, the word will is used thirteen times, meaning "William", "sexual desire", "penis", or "vagina", depending on the context (and it usually means more than one of these things at once). *Shall this his ''mock'' ''mock'' out of their dear husbands, ''Mock'' mothers from their sons, ''mock'' castles down — from
Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1 ...
, King Henry utters four times the word mock to express two different meanings of 'mock' - one is 'to cheat' another is 'to taunt'.


Witticisms

*"
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana" is a humorous saying that is used in linguistics as an example of a garden path sentence or syntactic ambiguity, and in word play as an example of punning, double entendre, and antanaclasis. ...
" is an example of a
garden path sentence A garden-path sentence is a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader's most likely interpretation will be incorrect; the reader is lured into a parse that turns out to be a dead end or yields a clearly unintended me ...
– the first half of the sentence misleads the reader into parsing the second half incorrectly. The exact origin of the phrase is unknown, but differing versions of it have appeared in print since the 1960s. *
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
, at the signing of the
Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...
, is reported to have said: "We must, indeed, all ''hang'' together, or assuredly we shall all ''hang'' separately". However, the phrase has also been attributed to Richard Penn in
Alexander Graydon Alexander Graydon Jr. (1752–1818) was an author and officer in the American Revolution. He was commissioned captain on January 5, 1776 and commanded a company of men in the Battle of Long Island and in the Battle of Harlem Heights. He was taken ...
's ''Memoirs of a Life'', and appeared in
Frederic Reynolds Frederic Reynolds (1 November 1764 – 16 April 1841) was an English dramatist. During his literary career he composed nearly one hundred tragedies and comedies, many of which were printed, and about twenty of them obtained temporary popularit ...
' play ''Life'', first published in 1801. *In an essay entitled "The Literati of New York City",
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
wrote of George B. Cheever: "He is much better known, however, as the editor of ''The
Commonplace Book Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are simi ...
of American Poetry'', a work which has at least the merit of not belying its title, and ''is'' exceedingly commonplace". *The American football coach
Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...
once told his team: "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired, with enthusiasm".


Advertising

*The ''long'' cigarette that's ''long'' on flavor". — Pall Mall cigarettes *We make the traveler's ''lot'' a ''lot'' easier. —
Overseas National Airways The original Overseas National Airways Inc (ONA) was an American airline, formed in June 1950 as a supplemental air carrier. It ceased operations on September 14, 1978. The airline started as Air Travel in 1946 and was renamed Calasia Air Transpo ...


Responding to questions

Antanaclases are prevalent in humorous
paraprosdokian A paraprosdokian () is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence, phrase, or larger discourse is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used f ...
s employed when responding to a question. For example, in response to the question "how are you two?", an Israeli (
Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the H ...
) speaker can say בסדר גמור; היא בסדר, אני גמור ''be-séder gamúr; hí be-séder, aní gamúr'', literally "in-order complete; she in-order, I complete", i.e. "We are very good. She is good, I am finished". Note the ambiguity of the Israeli lexical item גמור ''gamúr'': it means both "complete" and "finished". A parallel punning paraprosdokian in English is a man's response to a friend's question ''Why are you and your wife here?'': ''A workshop; I am working, she is shopping.''


Latin literature

* The Roman poet
Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ;  – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem ''De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into En ...
in '' De rerum natura'' Book 3 line 365 observes that we sometimes find ourselves temporarily blinded by bright objects because "lumina luminibus quia nobis praepediuntur" (because our eyes are impeded by the lights), taking advantage of the fact that in Latin the same word can mean both "eye" and "light".


See also

* Equivocation, used as a logical fallacy * Figure of speech *
List of linguistic example sentences A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
Polyptoton Polyptoton is the stylistic scheme in which words derived from the same root are repeated (such as "strong" and "strength"). A related stylistic device is antanaclasis, in which the same word is repeated, but each time with a different sense. An ...
*
Pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
* Rhetoric * Zeugma


Footnotes


Sources

* Baldrick, Chris. 2008. ''Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms''. Oxford University Press. New York. * Corbett, Edward P. J. and Connors, Robert J. 1999. ''Style and Statement''. Oxford University Press. New York, Oxford. * Forsyth, Mark. 2014. ''The Elements of Eloquence''. Berkley Publishing Group/Penguin Publishing. New York. * Kennedy, X.J. et al. 2006. ''The Longman Dictionary of Literary Terms: Vocabulary for the Informed Reader''. Pearson, Longman. New York.


External links

*{{wiktionary-inline, antanaclasis Figures of speech Rhetorical techniques Polysemy