Elsewhere, Richard says, "It has been said that the English make the best diplomats."
And often, Richard says, "It has been said that the English make the best beer."

Is there a term for the difference in usage here? It would sound odd to say, "The English make the best diplomats and the best beer."

quote:

Is there a term for the difference in usage here?

Indeed there is. It is called "a different one of the 50-odd meanings of the verb 'to make'".

As pointed out in the thread about nightgowns (his post from Feb. 12) . . . the English do, in fact, make not only diplomats but also many other English professionals.

To answer wordnerds question , there is a linguistics term for that because I remember reading about it last year but I'm damned if I can remember what it is. It'll doubtless come back to me later.

Are you thinking of the rhetorical term syllepsis perhaps? AKA zeugma.

Beat me to it.

That's the fellow, zeugma.

I was about to post a few examples to jog memories but I should have guessed that you wouldn't need yours jogging!

Here are the examples anyway.

In addition to being a fine comedian, Eric Morcambe was an accomplished musician. He could play both the fool and the piano with equal skill.

He takes care and pills.

Dave watched television but not his weight.

He performed with skill and with the London Symphony orchestra.

He departed in a temper and a taxi.

And in a similar, but not exactly the same, style

He left the house in fine weather but a foul mood.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

Bob and Zmj, you both posted while I was looking it up. Wordcrafter introduced us to syllepsis on August 25, 2002, and we had quite a discussion about it. Some consider zeugma to be synonymous with syllepsis, while others think a syllepsis is a particular type of zeugma. Yet others consider them to be two separate, though closely related, figures of speech (or rhetorical devices). Hic gave us a link to Have Some Madiera m'Dear by Flanders and Swann in that same discussion.

See A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples, Silva Rhetoricae, and Wikipedia.

Tinman

Until the next morning, she woke up in bed
With a smile on her lips and an ache in her head
And a beard in her ear 'ole that tickled and said
Have some madeira, m'dear.

Oh, Shu and I have always loved that song.

The first link to the song that Hic gave doesn't work any more, but this one does.

Tinman

Madeira M'Dear is so chock full of syllepses and/or zeugmas (zeugmae?) that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Canada) saw fit a while ago to devote a radio program to it. They particularly noted verse 4, line 5. ( Chacun a son gout.) where the gout is pronounced like the disease rather than the, well....whatever the French want it to mean! However, I would consider this a double entendre rather than syllepsis or zeugma. Am I right in thinking there's a difference