Friday, 4 December 2015

rhetorical devices - What's the term for when a phrase is slightly changed for effect?

What is the name of the rhetorical device of slightly changing a standard phrase?



Here is an example:




McDonald's Yuan Menu




The original word, "Dollar," has been replaced with "Yuan," giving the phrase a new meaning, but a recognizable context.



Here's another example:




Clean Air Guitar Act




The word, "Guitar," has been inserted into the phrase, "Clean Air Act."




A near identical question has been asked here, "Changing a quotation so that the original is recognised, but has been given a new meaning."



Here are the answers that were provided to that question:



  • trope


  • reference


  • allusion


  • pop culture reference


  • play on a quote


  • snowclone


  • paraphrasing


None of these answers are good. Trope, reference, and allusion are very broad terms. More important, they don't actually describe the act of slightly altering a phrase, and instead are describing the mere mention of a phrase. Snowclone is not correct because a snowclone describes a template based on an idiom.

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