Zeugmata

A zeugma is a figure of speech when a single word is used in two parts of a sentence, but must be understood differently in relation to each. Examples English Ask a medieval peasant where America was and you'd get a blank look. Or, worse still, the plague. Philomena Cunk (played by Diane Morgan) in "The Renaissance Will Not Be Televised" (S1:E3 of "Cunk on Earth") We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Thomas Jefferson My blood sugar fell dramatically and so did I. Elaine Stritch in "Elaine Stritch at Liberty" It's like an episode of "Yes, Prime Minister" with no Sir Humphrey, no Sir Bernard and no laughter. Stephen Parkinson, Baron Parkinson of Whitley Bay, speaking at the Cambridge Union after the resignation of Simon Case and Sue Gray The iconoclast Henry Sherfield in 1630 broke not only a window depicting God the Father in St Edmund's, Salisbury, but also his own leg while standing on a pew to do it. Keith Thomas in "Religion and the Decline of Magic" (p. 113) Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton takes the oath and his seat in the Upper House after his bombshell return as Foreign Secretary in the reshuffle. James Tapsfield in the Daily Mail When all the clowns that you have commissioned have died in battle or in vain. Bob Dylan in Queen Jane Approximately [Ed Davey should] clear his diary, clear his desk, and clear off. Lee Anderson He himself fled back to France, alcoholism, tawdry affairs and disillusionment. Linda Colley in "Britons" ...was crucified, dead and buried... Apostles' Creed History is now and England. T. S. Eliot in "Little Gidding" A good sermon should be about God and about eight minutes long. He left the room with neither his hat nor his dignity. She made no reply, up her mind, and a dash for the door. The arms race was finished by the Dreadnought and by 1914. You may leave with an improved knowledge of coastal defences and an ice cream. You leave with my best wishes and a fine collection of zeugmata. Latin They tear your possessions to pieces, and my heart. Ovid in "The Heroides" (I.90) deposito pariter cum veste timore Ovid in "The Heroides" (XVIII.57) onerat Seianum, saevitiam, superbiam, spes eius Tacitus in "Annals" (IV)