query: instance_of pun
supports: Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonetic mix-ups such as spoonerisms, obscure words and meanings, clever rhetorical excursions, oddly formed sentences, double entendres, and telling character names (such as in the play "The Importance of Being Earnest", "Ernest" being a given name that sounds exactly like the adjective "earnest"). Dogberry is a character created by William Shakespeare for his play, "Much Ado About Nothing". He is described by The Nuttall Encyclopædia as a "self-satisfied night constable" with an inflated view of his own importance as the leader of a group of comically bumbling police watchmen. Dogberry is notable for his numerous malapropisms, which sometimes are referred to as "dogberryisms" after him. The Dogberry character was created for William Kempe, who played comic roles in Shakespeare's theatre company the Lord Chamberlain's Men.  In spoken language analysis an utterance is a smallest unit of speech. It is a continuous piece of speech beginning and ending with a clear pause. In the case of oral languages, it is generally but not always bounded by silence. Utterances do not exist in written language, only their representations do. They can be represented and delineated in written language in many ways. Wit is a form of intelligent humour, the ability to say or write things that are clever and usually funny. A wit is a person skilled at making clever and funny remarks. Forms of wit include the quip and repartee. Rhetoric is the art of discourse, wherein a writer or speaker strives to inform, persuade or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the European tradition. Its best known definition comes from Aristotle, who considers it a counterpart of both logic and politics, and calls it "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion." Rhetoric typically provides heuristics for understanding, discovering, and developing arguments for particular situations, such as Aristotle's three persuasive audience appeals, logos, pathos, and ethos. The five canons of rhetoric, which trace the traditional tasks in designing a persuasive speech, were first codified in classical Rome: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Along with grammar and logic (or dialecticsee Martianus Capella), rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925  September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (194663, 1965) (all but the last for the New York Yankees). He was an 18-time All-Star, and won 10 World Series championships as a playermore than any other player in MLB history. Berra had a career batting average of .285, while compiling 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only five players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. The pun , also called paronomasia , is a form of word play that suggests two or more meanings , by exploiting multiple meanings of words , or of similar - sounding words , for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect . These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic , homographic , metonymic , or figurative language . A pun differs from a malapropism in that a malapropism is an incorrect variation on a correct expression , while a pun involves expressions with multiple correct interpretations . Puns may be regarded as in - jokes or idiomatic constructions , as their usage and meaning are specific to a particular language and its culture . Puns have a long history in human writing . Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs were originally based on punning systems , and the Roman playwright Plautus was famous for his puns and word games . Punning has been credited as the fundamental concept behind alphabets , writing , and even human civilization . A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words in a phrase. These are named after pastor William Archibald Spooner, who was famous for doing this. Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or animal actively maintains the experience, and is associated with enjoyment, happiness, laughter and pleasure. A double entendre is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to be understood in either of two ways, having a double meaning. Typically one of the meanings is obvious, given the context whereas the other may require more thought. The innuendo may convey a message that would be socially awkward, sexually suggestive, or offensive to state directly (the "Oxford English Dictionary" describes a double entendre as being used to "convey an indelicate meaning", whilst Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines it as "a word or phrase that may be understood in two different ways, one of which is often sexual"). A malapropism (also called a malaprop or Dogberryism) is the use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An example is the statement by baseball player Yogi Berra, "Texas has a lot of electrical votes", rather than "electoral votes". Malapropisms also occur as errors in natural speech and are often the subject of media attention, especially when made by politicians or other prominent individuals. Philosopher Donald Davidson has noted that malapropisms show the complex process through which the brain translates thoughts into language. The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make "The Importance of Being Earnest" Wilde's most enduringly popular play. A given name (also known as a personal name, Christian name, first name, or forename) is a part of a person's full nomenclature. It identifies a specific person, and differentiates that person from other members of a group, such as a family or clan, with whom that person shares a common surname. The term "given name" refers to the fact that the name usually is "bestowed" upon a person, normally "given" to a child by its parents at or near the time of birth. This contrasts with a surname (also known as a family name, last name, or gentile name), which is normally inherited, and shared with other members of the child's immediate family. Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares borders with the U.S. states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the southwest, while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast.
candidates: 1 adjective area art award baseball case character clan comedy comic company country definition delivery error family family name february figure of speech five given name grammar gulf hall of fame home humour language literary technique may message nomenclature people person phrase play police population practice professional pun rhetoric role series sound speech state study style theatre company three time understanding utterance word word play written language
answer: figure of speech