Puns
A play on words; using words that sound nearly alike but are but are
different in meaning
If a clock is hungry, it can always go back four seconds.
I work as a baker because I knead the dough.
Mercutio: Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.
Romeo: Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes.With nimble soles; I have a soul of leadSo stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
Sampson: Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals.Gregory: No, for then we should be colliers.Sampson: I mean, and we be in choler, we’ll draw.Gregory: Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of collar.
Mercutio: That dreamers often lie. Romeo: In bed asleep where they do dream things true.
OxymoronA figure of speech where two
contradictory words are placed together.
What is it?Hint: It was recently elected mascot of oxymorons.
Jumbo ShrimpCompared to any other food item,
there is nothing JUMBO about them.
Hip-hop Examples
“…and wanna silence me. They wanna do me violence, but even my silence speaks.”-Kenyatta
“My sleeves are stuffed with better ways to say thingsI pull them out at the first hint of the spell breaking
Real magic making for an honorable mention”-Despot
“The proper crop of jumbo shrimp”-Suga Free
“Poor Lil Rich”-a song by 50 Cent
Why?
Oxymorons are often inserted to highlight absurdities, or to explain complicated or
intense feelings—so complicated that they can only be explained by words that don’t
make sense.R&J
Act 1 s.1