Your Wordplay Weapons

For writers (and flacks and hacks), there are many weapons at your disposal to ensure the written word is lively and engaging. Here are but a few.

• Malapropism – a comic misuse of language
• Neologism – a made-up word
• Anagram – a word formed by transposing letters
• Acronym – a word formed by combining first letters or syllables of other words
• Antonym – a word that means the opposite of another word
• Paraphrase – to state something differently
• Double Entendre – a word or phrase with an extra, often racy meaning
• Metaphor – a figure of speech suggesting a likeness, but offering a description that is not literally applicable
• Homophones – words with the same pronunciation
• Cipher – secret writing, such as diplomatic writing
• Palindrome – a text that reads the same in reverse
• Spoonerism – transposing first letters of two or more words (i.e. right lane / light rain)
• Pangram – a phrase using all 26 letters of the alphabet
• Portmanteau – a word blend of two other words (i.e. breakfast and lunch becomes brunch)
• Retronym – a modified name for an old item
• Sesquipedalian – having many syllables
• Paronomasia – a pun or play of words

(ed. – We dug this helpful piece out of the By George archives. Through the next few weeks By George will post lists of these “wordplay weapons.”)

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