Thursday, August 24, 2006

Word of the day...

zeugma -
the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is appropriate to only one of them or is appropriate to each but in a different way, as in to wage war and peace or On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold.
or
A construction in which a single word, especially a verb or an adjective, is applied to two or more nouns when its sense is appropriate to only one of them or to both in different ways, as in He took my advice and my wallet.
IE: "You held your breath and the door for me" ~ Alanis Morissette (Head over Feet)

I didn't know there was a term for this. Max Lucado uses them in his books, I'm striving to do the same.

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