# What's your favorite example of zeugma? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471 "2023-05-23T14:20:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/21 "2023-05-30T02:52:24Z")
_If it wasn’t for disappointment I wouldn’t have any appointments…_ -They Might Be Giants ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/22 "2023-05-30T10:20:17Z")
Zeugma is too close to smegma for comfort ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/23 "2023-05-30T12:18:46Z")
Is this one? From I Cover the Waterfront: “I see the horizon, the great unknown. My heart has an ache it’s as heavy as stone. Will the dawn coming on make it light?” ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/24 "2023-05-30T12:33:59Z")
From _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_ by Mark Twain: > “They tugged and tore at each other’s hair and clothes, punched and scratched each other’s nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory.” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/25 "2023-05-30T12:44:54Z")
“She was turned on by the television, and vice-versa.” (I heard this first as patter from Ian Anderson on a recording of a Jethro Tull concert in Carnegie Hall, circa 1970, but I’m sure he didn’t invent it.) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/26 "2023-05-30T15:26:13Z")
From the musical Hamilton: “‘We hold these truths to be self-evident That all men are created equal.’ And when I meet Thomas Jefferson I’m ‘a compel him to include women in the sequel!” ---
**Author:** ![TheTooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/919ad9/32.png) [@TheTooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTooth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/27 "2023-05-30T15:49:23Z")
“Outside a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside a dog it’s too dark to read.” ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/28 "2023-05-30T23:35:56Z")
The opening song of Hamilton has the line “we fought with him!” sung by the actors who portray people who fought along side Hamilton during the Revolutionary War, and also people who opposed his policies while they were in Washington’s Cabinet. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/29 "2023-05-31T12:38:34Z")
“The childhood of a hood that was raised in the hood: cops said ‘Put your hands in the hot sky,’ threw my hands down on the hot hood” — Chino XL ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/30 "2023-05-31T12:42:24Z")
More from the same song (wordsmith): “Hyphen, dot, dot, semicolon, leave you semi-swollen Question mark, you pregnant? Oh, you’re not. I love you, period.” (“Period” has three meanings: punctuation, menstruation, and finality/emphasis.) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/31 "2023-06-03T21:47:05Z")
Just listening to Bob Dylan’s strange, but appealing new album “Shadow Kingdom”, and “Queen Jane Approximately” comes up. How could I have forgotten this line? _Now, when all the clowns that you have commissioned_ _Have died in battle or in vain_ ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/32 "2023-06-04T01:19:55Z")
“It’s too bad that whole families have to be torn apart by something as simple as wild dogs.” — Jack Handey ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/33 "2023-06-04T01:45:04Z")
It took me a minute to get this sentence from the book I’m currently reading: “I should have realized it was a hope so vain that Carly Simon could have written a famously enigmatic song about it.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/34 "2023-06-04T01:54:09Z")
From a recent New York Times article: > Sherry-Lehmann, a longtime purveyor of luxury wines, owes New York State $2.8 million in unpaid sales taxes — and its customers an explanation. ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/35 "2023-06-05T13:25:22Z")
Replying to the Carly Simon post… Wouldn’t it be apropos if the guy she sings about was actually named… …Seauveign? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/36 "2023-06-05T19:04:29Z")
My all-time favorite is from a T. Kingfisher novel, describing a trip by horseback: > [@](#): > > Time passed, like a kidney stone. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/37 "2023-06-06T11:12:28Z")
_The Shawshank Redemption_ had, “I’d like to think that the last thing that went through his head, other than that bullet, was to wonder…” > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Time passed, like a kidney stone. So time flew like a lead balloon? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/38 "2023-06-06T11:14:58Z")
Thats more of a chaismus, which is a crossing (hence the name) or inversion. The best example of that is Tom Wait’s “I’d rather have a bottle on front of me than a frontal lobotomy”, which more or less mic dropped the whole concept. It’s dated, but mnemonic example for zuegma has always been “She stained her honor and her prom dress”, which is how the term was taught to me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/39 "2023-06-06T11:22:58Z")
“I was too fucking busy, and vice versa.” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/40 "2023-06-06T11:24:24Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Tom Wait’s “I’d rather have a bottle on front of me than a frontal lobotomy”, I don’t know if it was Waits or someone else who upped it with, “I’d rather have a **free** bottle in front of me than a **pre** frontal lobotomy.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471.md?page=3)