Round 3613: Vote for paronomasia!

[nancygoat]

And now for your voting pleasure, a list of 12 definitions, one of which is real. This is such a clever and erudite group that you might have trouble choosing. Regardless, please vote for 2 of your favorites by the deadline of 9pm EST tomorrow, Sunday January 11 (2am Monday GMT). We'll close early if all have voted...and I'm usually the laggard, so that could work...

Happy voting!

Nancy

1. A feeling of giddiness experienced when falling in love.

2. A system of practice governed less by written rules than by accumulated custom and precedent, understood intuitively by long-standing participants and imperfectly documented.

3. An obsolete classification in early music notation referring to a paired sequence of tones used to mark transitions in folk melodies.

4. As described by Aristotle, the state of individuals who follow their appetites without rational control.

5. A rhetorical device involving deliberate repetition of similar-sounding words for effect.

6. a belief, common to several cult faiths, that the end of the world is imminent, and will give everyone an equal chance of salvation.

7. A playing on words which sound alike; a word-play; a pun

8. Confusion arising from shared nicknames.

9. a credulous belief in conspiracy theories

10. A type of nominal compound in which the first part modifies the second and neither part can be used alone while retaining the intended meaning. Examples include redcoat, bluestocking and lowlife.

11. A figure of speech in which a reference to a place is used for a person born or living there; by some rhetoricians subsumed under synecdoche, or under metonymy [Gk para- ‘beside, surrounding’ + onomasía ‘name’ < onomázein ‘to name’]

12. The condition of being prone to seeing ghosts.

[Paul Keating]

So Dixonary players are (according to #2) a bunch of paronomasics. That's not a vote, it's a disparaging remark.

[Judy Madnick]

Nothing sounds right to me, but I may as well vote before I forget to!

 

7. A playing on words which sound alike; a word-play; a pun (because I like puns)

and

9. a credulous belief in conspiracy theories (because I don't like conspiracy theories)

 

Judy Madnick

[Tim Bourne]

4 and 9, please.

Best wishes,
Tim B.

[Tim Lodge]

I'll try something to do with words: 5 and 7.

             5. A rhetorical device involving deliberate repetition of similar-sounding words for effect.

             7. A playing on words which sound alike; a word-play; a pun

-- Tim L

[Shani Naylor]

I'll vote 4 & 5.

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[Paul Keating]

There are three rhetorical figures (#5, #7, #11) and the plausible etymology of #11 could apply to any of them. The phrasing of #7 is curious: a playing on words is a very 18th-century locution, and unlikely to have been dreamt up by any of us, so I reckon it's real. 

#7 and #11.

[Hugo Kornelis]

Hi Nancy,

My two votes will be for:

 > 4. As described by Aristotle, the state of individuals who follow their appetites without rational control.

 > 7. A playing on words which sound alike; a word-play; a pun

Cheers,
Hugo

Op 10-1-2026 om 20:57 schreef nancygoat:

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[Daniel B Widdis]

I believe the etymology of 11 but will apply it to the pair of “sound alike” defs, 5 and 7.

Also for Nancy’s benefit, Go Bears!

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[Chowie]

I'm going to join the 5/7 crowd even though I also like 3. That sounds familiar to me. 

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~Bending under the weight of His mercies~

​"For we cannot do anything against the truth, 

but only for the truth​." 

II Corinthians 13:8

[Eric Boxer]

I'll vote for 4 and 7.

-- Eric

[France International/Mike Shefler]

7 and 11 seem most likely.

--Mike

[Efrem Mallach]

I don't see my def in the list. It was about a canine digestive conditioh, so it couldn't have been combined with any of those in the list.

However, (a) I sent it 15 minutes after the deadline, though well before the list came out, and (b) I didn't send it to the requested address, so it'd my bad. I don't deserve any compensation. 

(Some may recall that, during the pandemic, anyone who wore both eyeglasses and a mask was entitled to condensation.)

Meanwhile: I vote for 1 and 5.

Efrem

=======================

On Jan 10, 2026, at 2:57 PM, nancygoat <nanc...@gmail.com> wrote:

And now for your voting pleasure, a list of 12 definitions, one of which is real. This is such a clever and erudite group that you might have trouble choosing. Regardless, please vote for 2 of your favorites by the deadline of 9pm EST tomorrow, Sunday January 11 (2am Monday GMT). We'll close early if all have voted...and I'm usually the laggard, so that could work...

Happy voting!

Nancy

1. A feeling of giddiness experienced when falling in love.

...

[France International/Mike Shefler]

You may want to contact the law farm of E.I and E.I. Oh.

[Efrem Mallach]

I only use Dewey, Cheatham and Howe.

Efrem

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[Chowie]

Love the EI EI O joke

~Bending under the weight of His mercies~

​"For we cannot do anything against the truth, 

but only for the truth​." 

II Corinthians 13:8

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dixonary/67D5DB83-E5F9-4298-8257-B0E7A5D258B9%40gmail.com.

[Glenn Thomas Davis]

I'll take, uh... (throws dart) 1, and, ah... (throws dart) ...7.

—Glenn

. . .

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

—Plutarch

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