Antanaclasis

//__Antanaclasis __//


 * Definition:: **Antanaclasis is the repetition of a single word, with the word taking on a different, commonly contrary, meaning each time.


 * Origin:: **From the Latin word that means "to reflect; bend back"

Definition taken from Oxford English Dictionary.
 * Examples ** from text:

1) In the NPR 3 Minute Story "The First Session" (written by Will Dowd), the following exchange occurs between a married couple:

"The physicist rolled his eyes. 'I'm sorry, but my wife has no grasp of quantum **mechanics**.'

'You're some **mechanic**,' she said. 'What's a lug nut?'"

This is an example of antanaclasis. The first instance of "mechanics" refers to the way certain things - in this case, energy and matter - work; the second instance refers to a person skilled at fixing things.

2) In Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor claims that he is a mason, which Fortunato challenges by saying, "You? Impossible! **A mason**?" Montresor responds, "**A mason**," and pulls out a trowel to support his claim. Fortunato's was referring to the Freemasons, a fraternal order, while Montresor was referring to a mason, a bricklayer, hinting at the way in which he intended to murder Fortunato.

3. In Philip Dick's "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale," the main character, Douglas Quail, says, "it was a wife's job to bring her husband **down to Earth**. **//Down to Earth//**, he thought, and laughed. The figure of speech in this was literally apt." The first mention of "down to Earth" is an idiom that refers to the Quail's wife humbling her husband by reminding him of his position as a "miserable little salaried employee"; the second refers to the wife quenching his dream of going to Mars by grounding him to, literally, Earth.

CY