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ESL forum >
Message board > WOD
WOD
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cindyfreksen
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WOD
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OHHHH I won Yippee!!! But oh no, now I have to find a word... Hmmm Ok here it is:
Zeugma (pronounced ZOOG-muh)
What does it mean? Can you use it in a sentence?? I look forward to your suggestions.
Cindy
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12 Dec 2012
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ldthemagicman
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"ZEUGMA" is a Figure of Speech.
What kind of "Figure" is it? It is the Figure of a Woman!
Why do I use the word "Speech"? Because it is a Speech Act: "Hand over your Money!".
When do we hear this? On a German-built train, because "Zeug" is Plattdeutsch for "Zug" = "Train".
Who is the principle actor in this Drama? "Ma", from the American English "Ma", (Very early Latin, "Mater", because she couldn�t sleep late).
Where does the "Ma" come in? She usually comes in the last carriage of the train, and then works her way to the front.
How does Ma enter? She usually enters with a flourish and a hand-gun. She asks the passengers to open their hearts and their wallets. Always, she takes much criticism and many Credit Cards.
How much does she usually collect? She collects a Handful of Insults and A Fistful of Dollars. (She also steals Perfume, so she takes every Scent that they have!)
How many Americans know what a Rhetorical Question is?
Only one --- Rhett Butler, the Oracle, in the Alka-Seltzer Advertisement, who asked: "Will the burning at the end be �Gone with the Wind�?
"ZEUGMA" = A well-known woman, who was a female American Railway Bandit of the opposite sex. (She also taught Ology!)
Give an example of a sentence using the word "ZEUGMA".
Old lady, in Schleswig Holstein, to young child: "How do you get to school?"
Child: "I travel in luxury and in a Zeugma".
LES DOUGLAS |
12 Dec 2012
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Allisa
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Zeugma is derived from two other words - Zeus (the "Father of Gods and men") and stigma. The meaning of zeugma is "the state of being stigmatised by Zeus". Nowadays it is used metaphorically and "to be in zeugma" means that your boss or your wife thinks you are a loser.
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12 Dec 2012
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Pelletrine
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Les:  - But you must be yoking, sorry, joking .... and that is what really makes me laugh and on my way to my very next smile ;o)
Zeugma is a rather unusual spelling and on the whole a strange word for the muscles you use when you laugh. Actually, they are derived from the studies done by our regretted Raymon Devos, who imagined your �zigomatics � were situated, not on your face, but on your behind.... he did very important researches to know the effect on people who did not have their zigomatics in the right place .... these muscles were then named the �zeugmatics � to distinguish them from those found on the face of normally constituated people.
- So, a zeugma is a smile you make with your behind.
Use it in a sentense?
-"When I see her zeugma, I know she is in a good mood .. and tomorrow is gonna be a good good day."
But, really, Les, your daffination rocks !  It puts me on a stool and zeugmating.
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12 Dec 2012
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Daisee
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""Zeugma"" is the equivalent of &*^% when referring to an grammar mistake
""Oh zeugma, I used the wrong article"" |
12 Dec 2012
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douglas
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Being as how I currently live in Schleswig-Holstein and last week waited half an hour for a delayed, "always on-time" German train, I find it necessary to, as so many British colleagues choose to do when speaking of the "barbaric" American slaughtering of "their" English language, take an upper hand and explain the meaning of "zeugma" using not some "common" dialect that, only by chance of farmers turned seamen virally spreading this abomination of German that later became the roots my British colleagues � "own" English language throughou the world, became a recognized language of its own. Of course, I am referring to "Plattdeutsch" which, in this northern German state, is a prerequisite for success in businees, politics, or ordering drinks at a local pub.
Avoiding the use of this colloquial "dialect", I now switch to Hochdeutsch, which one may consider the "British English" of the German language. In this "proper" form the word "Zeug" is not a train, but a universal word that has no direct translation into "perfect" British English. This wonderful word can be translated to mean everything from "stuff, gear, or tool" to such a wonderful word as "watchamacallit".
With "Ma" being a universally accepted reference to a beloved mother or grandmother we can now see that "zeugma" can only refer to "your Mother or Grandmother �s watchamacallit" As with its "universal" German roots, this word can be used to refer to a cornucopia of wonderful things that could include the "watchamacallit from which you were born to the wooden spoon that mommy and granny so lovingly employed to teach you the discipline that is required to read this lengthy piece of nonsense and make any heads or tails of its meaning..
"God Bless the zeugma that bore me, that lead me, that loved me, that fed me, that culled me and healed me." |
13 Dec 2012
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MarionG
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this is a no-brainer for Dutch speakers like myself
Zeug=female pig
Ma= mother (mom)
Zeugma is mama pig (sadly, like the female dog, this word also tends to be used as a not very respectful way to address women. Unlike the female dog, the female pig denotation is usually used to refer to women of the larger variety, who do not necessarily uphold high personal hygiene standards) |
13 Dec 2012
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