the four elements that make up the universe:
- zeugma,
- catachresis,
- antanaclasis
- polyptoton
joke explained: allow me to infodump
zeugma: When you say "She broke the window-- and his heart" or when Pat Monahan croons "You wear white and I'll wear out the words 'I love you'"-- using a word in two distinct senses, often a transitive verb with an idiomatic sense. This is not the only sense in which zeugma is used; Wikipedia lists four.
catachresis: When you say "The leg of the table" or "She passed away"-- expanding the sense of a word, from simple crossing of established categorical boundaries to full-on euphemism. Also used to mean "replacing a word with a sound-alike", like asking "Did he sail across the Specific Ocean or the Elentic Ocean?". In fact, if we cross the established categorical boundary around the word catachresis, we might consider it catachretic when Miles Bron in Glass Onion asks "Can we just inbreathiate this moment together?"
antanaclasis: When Othello says "Put out the light, then put out the light" as he intends to kill Desdemona in the dark, or when Ben Franklin says "Your arguments are sound, nothing but sound"-- using a word twice, each time with a different sense.
polyptoton: When you say "Who watches the watchmen" or "Marvel at the marvelous marvels!"-- using different words that come from the same root.
