It’s Friday, so it figures to be time for another installment of my occasional (very occasional) series on figures of speech and other linguistic mischief. Let me install my headphones – ah, there we are – and away we go…
During the first American effort to throw off the yoke of monarchy, Ben Franklin famously said,
We must all hang together, or we shall surely all hang separately.
Franklin’s utterance was a classic example of antanaclasis, a figure of speech using the same word in two different senses. It’s a sort of pun, but much, much more. It depends not on words of similar sounds, but on alternate meanings for the same word. So follow me below the fold — it’s a little tight there, you’ll have to fold yourself up a bit to get there — for more.
Franklin apparently was fond of antanaclasis; he also once said to a political opponent,
Your argument is sound — all sound.
If you want to learn to use any figure of speech effectively, it helps to look at how the masters use it. Effective antanaclasis doesn’t just depend on finding two different meanings for the same word; the meanings should be contrasting as well. So if I say, “I called a man called Joe today,” that’s only interesting if you want to know what Joe and I said to each other. But consider a more interesting example. Suppose a progressive candidate says to a Republican opponent,
You say you’re called to public service, but on Booman Tribune they say you’re called a liar.
Now maybe we’re getting somewhere.
If there’s a good figure of speech, Shakespeare surely used it, and antanaclasis is no exception:
O, cursed be the hand that made these holes!
Cursed be the heart that had the heart to do it!
Cursed be the blood that let his blood from hence!
–Richard III, Act I, Scene ii, Lines 13-15
Sometimes antanaclasis, like its cousin, chiasmus, can be implied. One old Wizard of Id cartoon has the Wizard telling the King, “Sire, the peasants are revolting!” The King’s answer: “You can say that again!”
I’ve occasionally caught myself thinking along similar lines when one of my kids is slow about doing something and says, “But Dad, I’m trying!”
Even Groucho Marx got in on the antanaclasis act. He earned double points with:
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
Because it’s so easy to create lame examples, antanaclasis is a particularly difficult game to play. But if you know other examples, or can create them, please come join the fun. And have a great weekend.
