Antanaclasis

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In rhetoric, antanaclasis (from Greek antanáklasis, meaning reflection, echo) is the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.

[edit] Examples

• A famous example of antanaclasis is seen in William Shakespeare's Henry V when the King sends the French ambassadors back to their master with an answer to the insulting gift of tennis-balls. He says, "for many a thousand widows/ Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands; Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down;" (HENRY V, I, ii, 284-286)
• "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." —Benjamin Franklin
• "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm." —Vince Lombardi
• "The long cigarette that's long on flavor." —from an advertisement for Pall Mall cigarettes
• "Sorry, Charlie. StarKist doesn't want tunas with good taste — StarKist wants tunas that taste good." —from 1980s StarKist tuna advertisements
• "Put out the light, then put out the light." —Shakespeare's Othello
• "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." -Groucho Marx [1]
• "Working hard or hardly working?"
• "If you don't get it, you don't get it." —The Washington Post slogan
• "She is nice from far, but far from nice!" - Popular.
• "'Stop or I'll shoot!' 'Shoot and I will stop!'" - Sweeney Todd
• "Your argument is sound, nothing but sound." —Benjamin Franklin

[edit] References

• Michael Moncur's (Cynical) Quotations. Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
• Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.

[edit] See also

• Figure of speech
• Pun
• Rhetoric
• Syllepsis
• List of linguistic example sentences