Information AboutWord Play |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT WORD PLAY | |
| rhetoric | |
| word games | |
| word playrhetoric | |
| word games | |
| word play | |
| linguistics | |
| rhetorical techniques | |
| persuasion techniques | |
| literary devices playing with meaning | |
| words | |
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Word play is a Literary Technique in which the nature of the words used themselves become part of the subject of the work. Pun s, phonetic mixups such as Spoonerisms , obscure words and meanings, clever Rhetoric al excursions, oddly formed sentences, and telling character names are common examples of word play. Most writers engage in word play to some extent, but certain writers are particularly adept or committed to word play. Shakespeare 's "quibbles" have made him a noted punster. P.G. Wodehouse was also hailed as a "comic genius recognized in his lifetime as a classic and an old master of farce" for his ingenious wordplay. James Joyce , author of '' Ulysses '' and '' Finnegans Wake '', is another noted word-player. For example, Joyce's phrase "they were yung and easily freudened" clearly conveys the meaning "young and easily frightened," but it also makes puns on the names of two famous Psychoanalysts , Jung and Freud . Other writers closely identified with word play include:
The Apocryphal book of Susanna has elements of word play in its original Greek. Plays can enter common usage as Neologism s. Word play is closely related to Word Game s, that is, games in which the point is manipulating words. See also Language Game for a linguist's variation. The Hungarian term for wordplay, occasionally used in the circle for its diaeres is Szójáték. A taxonomy of word play together with record-holding words in each category is available here: Taxonomy of Wordplay SEE ALSO
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