Y'know, the only thing more arcane than re-encountering the term "zeugma" (with examples!) -- I have a particular weakness for and delight in syllepsis -- is re-encountering it by way of polysemy. Ah, just when I am feeling old, jaded and still fairly ill with pseudo-Captain Tripps (also known as T1C1 in honor of The Chief, he who brung it among us, his minions hapless, helpless and now all ill) , the beauty, wonder and weirdness of that thing we do with our own software smacks me in the grey matter once more!
...Updates at both Retrotechnologist and I Work On A Starship await. Patience, patients.
My favorite example of syllepsis: "Monica had exploded, and I had a mystery, and pieces of her pancreas, on my hands."
ReplyDeleteAnd Scalia used it in the Heller decision last year.
There I always thought zeugma was a skin condition...
ReplyDeleteI should have been more specific: Scalia did not use pieces of Monica's pancreas in the Heller decision.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure? I mean, it is Justice Antonin Scalia: sometimes even when he's right, he's right for reasons that don't make sense.
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