# What's your favorite example of zeugma?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471>\
**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")\
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**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:** [May 23, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/1 "2023-05-23T14:20:36Z")

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I’m sure I don’t have to tell my erudite fellow Dopers that zeugma is

> **[Definition of ZEUGMA](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zeugma)**
>
> the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words usually in such a manner that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one (as in 'opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy')… See the full definition

I happened to think about zeugma last week because my wife directed her school production of _Fiddler on the Roof_, and the song “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” about making marriages matches, includes the line, “Playing with matches a girl can get burned.”

That reminded me of a lovely Tin Pan Alley song sung by Annette Hanshaw, “Mean to Me,” in which the singer bemoans how mean her boyfriend is, starting out

> You’re mean to me  
> Why must you be mean to me?

And at the end of the verse lamenting,

> It must be great fun to be mean to me  
> You shouldn’t, for can’t you see  
> What you mean to me?

[Here’s](https://youtu.be/Y-kgmmChQNM) her delightful recording of it.

But I’m holding out the following example as the gold standard that you can attempt to beat (but probably won’t).

[“Madeira, m’dear,” by Flanders and Swann](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=%23&ved=2ahUKEwim9M-OxIv_AhUnFlkFHQ5BD-4Q8TV6BAgPEAI&usg=AOvVaw0VTJzWxrN8ZFOD4xbU2nov)

Each of the song’s three verses contains a line that features a three- or four-way zeugma.

> And he said as he hastened to put out the cat,  
> The wine, his cigar, and the lamps:

> She lowered her standards by raising her glass,  
> Her courage, her eyes, and his hopes.

> When he asked, “What in heaven?” she made no reply,  
> Up her mind and a dash for the door.

(It has not escaped me that this lyrically and musically sophisticated song, written by two refined and well-educated British gentlemen, treats date rape as a suitable topic for humour. The “smile on her lips” softens things a bit, but there’s no question about his motives. And believe it or not, this is not the only one of their songs to do so. See “Tonga Maiden.” But let us not get sidetracked on this issue here.)

So what memorable examples of zeugma would you like to share?

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