This week we talked about stylistic devices which create humorous effect these are pun, irony, zeugma. Now about each individually:
Irony is a rhetorical device or a literary technique, or even situation, which refers to a sharp disagreement or discordance that is expressed beyond the evident intention of words used People often use irony either to bring fun in the conversation or to explain something which is totally contrary. Some examples:
«One of the identical twins says to the other, "You're ugly!"»
«I saw a fish drowning».
«Many things can be preserved in alcohol. Dignity is not one of them».
«Marriage is the leading cause of divorce»
«Most tobacco company executives don't smoke».
Pun, or paronomasia, are used to understand speech better. This is a play of words. These terms render ambiguity to a sentence, it is often added for a humourous or rhetorical effect.
«A pyrotechnician should know how fireworks».
« I work as a baker because I knead the dough».
«The principle part of a horse is the mane, of course».
«Do hotel managers get board with their jobs?»
Zeugma is a fun rhetorical device, an important figure of speech, wherein a single word is used to denote two or more words in a sentence and is fraught with literal and metaphorical undertones.
«You held your breath and the door for me»
«He lost his coat and his temper».
«Her hopes drowned with it her belief in idealism, trust in heaven, certainty in goodness and purity of heart».
«She killed time and the mailman».
Zeugma is a fun rhetorical device that can be used to connote several meaning in one single line.
Website where i foun information : http://fos.iloveindia.com/
Thanks a lot for attention!