Monday, March 19, 2018

Paronomasia

Have you ever heard the term "paronomasia"?
I remember clearly when I first heard it, in Sister Kathleen's English Honors class in 11th grade. You know how there are terms for various figures of speech? Like alliteration, and metaphor, and onomatopoeia ("meow!").
Well, "paronomasia" is the art of making puns.
In our 11th grade class, we had two guys who were great (or terrible, depends on your point of view!) punsters. When Sister Kathleen told us about this term, she calmly said, "It sounds like a disease doesn't it?" After waiting only a beat or two, she eyeballed Channing and David and said emphatically, "It is!"

Ok - with that short introduction... here's a picture...

Can you figure out what common phrase this picture is depicting?

At the Christian Fellowship BOF gathering this year, we met Pastor Frank and his wife Susanna. I subsequently became Facebook friends with both of them (I think I had actually been friends with Susanna before). Frank is a paronomasiac.

I have another friend on Facebook whose first name is also Frank. He and his wife own an oriental rug shop in Williamsburg - I knew them from the little church we attended when I was in college. This Frank is also a paronomasiac.

When I'm reading Facebook posts, I don't always notice fully who the writer of the post is... sometimes I only get the first name. While I have some friends with the same first name, I can generally tell from the post which friend has posted it without needing to look more carefully. But with Frank and Frank... there was no telling. They are both Christian, they are both punsters, they could be the same guy! I introduced them on Facebook and they are now Facebook friends, though they have never met face-to-face (or I don't think they have! maybe they are long lost brothers!?!?!).

Anyway... this whole story comes to this - that I picked up the picture from one of the Frank's Facebook posts (Pastor Frank, but it doesn't matter, it could have been either of them!). Have you figured out the common phrase yet?

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"Wrong on so many levels"

Are you shaking your head? You've been attacked by paronomasia! There's no vaccination, no cure, no antidote... sorry!

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