Humor in Names and Naming
A great deal of linguistic humor and word play is based on the following categories of Names and -nyms.
ACRONYMS: radar, unesco
ANTONYMS: boy-girl, black-white
APTONYMS: Hunt and Chase (hunters), Payne (dentist)
CACONYMS: Englebert Humperdink, Hubert Humphrey
CRYPTONYMS: 007, 99
EPONYMS: ferris wheel, salk vaccine
EUPHONYMS: Edna St. Vincent Millay
EXONYMS: Chinese Checkers, Gypsies, Mormons, Navajos, Papago, Quakers, Wales
GENERIC EPONYMS: Bud, Guy, Jack (le jacquerie), Jane, John
HETERONYMS: bass, bow, close, dove, house, lead, read, row, sow, tear, wind, wound
HOMOGRAPHS: bank, bank
HOMONYMS: to-too-two, bank-bank
HOMOPHONES: to-too-two
LABELS OF PRIMARY POTENCY: abortion, honkey, red neck
NICKNAMES: Bob, Dick, Tom
ORONYMS: the stuffy nose vs. the stuff he knows, the Pulitzer prize vs. the pullet surprise, iced ink vs. I stink
NOM DE GUERRE: Geronimo
PATRONYMS: Nilsen, MacDonald, Fitzpatrick, Colovitch, Gutierrez, Bin Laden, Ebnascena
PSEUDONYMS: (PEN NAME) : Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll
STRESSONYMS: convert, desert, intimate, invalid, minute, object, Polish, present, produce, record, refuse, sewer, subject
SYNONYMS: big, great
Lemony Snicket Books in 120 Seconds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej3hAZ1QnqA
Don L. F. Nilsen
You say: "A great deal of linguistic humor and word play is based on the following categories of Names and -nyms."
That is without a doubt true. But I wonder, is there any linguistic humor and word play that is NOT based on those categories? Offhand, I can't think of any; however, it's an interesting question and I am curious. Can you think of any?
Karl: That's a great question. You may be right. I can't think of any.
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