paronomasia

****************************************************************
Add fireworks to your vocabulary by trying out a free trial
subscription to Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged_sub.pl?refr=U_wod 
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for July 6 is:

paronomasia   \pair-uh-noh-MAY-zhee-uh\   noun 
     : a play on words : pun 

Example sentence: 
     Humorists claim that Harry Truman offered the delightful paronomasia "Missouri loves company" when he invited a friend to join him in Independence, Missouri, for a home-cooked meal.

Did you know? 
     Puns (essentially, humorous uses of words to suggest more than one interpretation) have their share of critics as well as fans. English philosopher-poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, for example, called puns "the lowest form of wit." "Paronomasia," which derives from a Greek verb meaning "to call with a slight change of name," can simply be a synonym of "pun." But it can also be used, somewhat playfully, to suggest an uncontrollable urge to make puns (as if it were a dread disease, rather than harmless word play). For example, in the July 6, 1980 _New York Times_, William Safire announced, "an epidemic of paronomasia has raced around the world." And on January 1, 1989, Jerry Kobrin of _The Orange County Register_ resolved to seek treatment "for a near-terminal case of paronomasia."





You Are Subscribed As: [email protected]
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102

*mf mwt 070606 [email protected] mf*

---
You are currently subscribed to mw-text as: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]