For me it is Mondegreen: which is a misheard lyric, word or phrase that becomes popular and gives it new meaning.

  • Classy@sh.itjust.works
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    14 days ago

    I enjoy “portmanteau”: the combination of two words to get a new meaning.“Brunch”

    Malapropisms are great, too. “He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious”

  • jaycifer@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    I’m a big fan of contronyms, words with two opposite meanings. I first learned looking for a word to describe the change in “literally” from meaning, well, the literal meaning of something to also the figurative meaning.

    Another good one is dust. You can dust your house to remove dust, but you can also dust a cake with powdered sugar.

    • Crix@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      You would like german. The word “umfahren” can mean to drive around something or it can mean to run something over, depending on how you pronounce it.

    • isyasad@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      Are they called shelled peanuts because they have their shells? or are they called shelled peanuts because they’ve been shelled, unshelling them? It’s literally ironic…

    • davidgro@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      I wonder if there’s a word for when a whole phrase has two opposite meanings without one of the words in it being a contronym (or using sarcasm, etc)

      The example that made me think of this is a song lyric:

      And she’s dancing like she’s never danced before!

      There’s the intended meaning of better than ever… But if I were to dance it would also be like I’ve never danced before.

    • fool@programming.dev
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      12 days ago

      Also known as autoantonym (antonym of itself). e.g. “Because of my oversight, my project is finished.”

      Did the person make an oversight, i.e. a mistake, and now his project is done for?

      Or did the person’s well-adjusted oversight, i.e. management, help complete his project on time?

    • Hugin@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      I’m a fan of cleave which can mean to split in two or to stick together. Each meaning has a different root.

  • fool@programming.dev
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    14 days ago

    Antimetaboles, maybe? It’s when you switch two words for poetic effect.

    When the goin’ gets tough, the tough get goin’!

    It’s fun to sound pseudo-poetic by trying to make one on the fly. Easier than a limerick

    In this world, you either have bot aim, or you have aimbot.

    It’s better to cum in the sink than to sink in the cum

    Shakespeare was lowbrow too, ok

    • Theo@lemmy.worldOP
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      14 days ago

      Lol Shakespeare the OG rapper:

      From Family Guy: I’m not saying she’s a gold digger, but she ain’t messing with any…who isn’t she messing with?

        • Theo@lemmy.worldOP
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          13 days ago

          Someone mentioned before that the line used in that family guy scene is an actual existing rap lyric. My guess is ‘old [explicative]’

          • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            13 days ago

            I know how the original song goes lol. The radio edit had “messing with no broke, broke.” Which I thought made no sense. So much of hip hop is improved by listening uncensored.

            • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
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              13 days ago

              I always laugh at it when they have to record 2 completely different versions of a song, such as D12’s Purple Hills vs the original version Purple Pills.

    • davidgro@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      The Sphinx : Your temper is very quick, my friend. But until you learn to master your rage…

      Mr. Furious : …your rage will become your master? That’s what you were going to say. Right? Right?

      The Sphinx : Not necessarily.

    • Bob@feddit.nl
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      13 days ago

      “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy”?

    • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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      14 days ago

      I once did something sort of like this.

      Back in the early days of the internet, I was on IRC playing trivia. Often people would talk about wag or wagging. I didn’t know exactly what it meant but I’m pretty good at inferring from context clues… usually.

      They asked a Star Wars question and of course I knew it right away. I realized in the moment I was practically wagging in anticipation of being correct and I announced it as my first wag.

      Of course, wag stood for wild ass guess so I had gotten the meaning completely backward. It still haunts me to this day, some 35+ years later, even though no one but me probably knew about my mistake.

    • fool@programming.dev
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      14 days ago

      Say it with me, boys:

      Squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel squirrel.

  • leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl
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    14 days ago

    “pseudo-anglicisms”. good examples are eye-shopping, relooking, face control and salaryman.

    their origins are interesting and colorful.

    • Theo@lemmy.worldOP
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      14 days ago

      Cool. Similar to anglicism. also, cognate comes to mind here since talking about words between languages.

    • Bob@feddit.nl
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      13 days ago

      It’s sort of a relief that there’s a term for that and that it occurs in more places than just the Netherlands, because I thought I was going insane.

  • otacon239@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    Spoonerisms Malaprops are when a character chooses a similar sounding but wrong word for comedic effect.

    • Theo@lemmy.worldOP
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      14 days ago

      I always knew it as transposing the beginning sounds of two words like: fons of tun instead of tons of fun.

    • Mr_Blott@feddit.uk
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      13 days ago

      Found some spoonerisms for folk that don’t know what it is -

      Three cheers for our queer old dean!" (while giving a toast at a dinner, which Queen Victoria was also attending)[15]

      “Is it kisstomary to cuss the bride?” (as opposed to “customary to kiss”)[15]

      “The Lord is a shoving leopard.” (instead of “a loving shepherd”)[15]

      “A blushing crow.” (“crushing blow”)[15]

      “A well-boiled icicle” (“well-oiled bicycle”)[15]

      “You were fighting a liar in the quadrangle.” (“lighting a fire”)[15]

      “Is the bean dizzy?” (“Dean busy”)[15]

      “Someone is occupewing my pie. Please sew me to another sheet.” (“Someone is occupying my pew. Please show me to another seat.”)[15]

      “You have hissed all my mystery lectures. You have tasted a whole worm. Please leave Oxford on the next town drain.” (“You have missed all my history lectures. You have wasted a whole term. Please leave Oxford on the next down train.”)[15]

    • sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      13 days ago

      My favorite spoonerism growing up was when someone in church would say “Bow your eyes and close your heads”. I haven’t been to church in 15 years but it still makes me chuckle thinking about it.

  • Dhar@lemmy.ca
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    13 days ago

    Tmesis, because you can make some unf*ckingbelievable words with it.

    • Theo@lemmy.worldOP
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      14 days ago

      No, he calls it an Emordnilap. I did see it but I knew of Semordnilaps for awhile now. I DO like Micheal Steven’s take on all of his linguistic subjects. Dude is a genius educator.

      Edit: lmao I chuckled at your username.

  • Theo@lemmy.worldOP
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    14 days ago

    Another is Tautonyms: a word made of two of the same words eg. Yo-yo or AT-AT.

    • Theo@lemmy.worldOP
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      13 days ago

      After my alarm went off, I turned it off. (Off with 66 definitions, one is bound to be an antonym).