aprosdoketon

plural aprosdoketons · plural aprosdoketa · alternative aprosdoceton

1. A figure of speech where an expected word in an idiom is replaced unexpectedly by an unusual one, as in Rome wasn't built in a teacup.

   Is the poet saying "I do not chance on even a slight respect from you" or "I chance on a good amount of respect from you," a meaning which effectively postpones the aprosdoketon to the final line[?]

   1997, T. Tarkow, Theognis 237–254: A Reexamination, in Quaderni urbinati di cultura classica 26, quoted in Roman Constructions (Don Fowler, 2000), http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0198153090&id=cVR01SLMLC0C&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=aprosdoketon&sig=az-o0Q6Pqsvfq64OEtILKFU9_VM

2. broadlyAny surprising use or interpretation of language.

   1 more example

   In later restagings of the Thesmophoriazusae, as in the 1959 Frogs, Euripides made his appearance driving a motorcycle. This scenic aprosdoketon was, of course, an ingenious verbal and visual pun on the word mechane and its different meanings in ancient and modern Greek: "stage crane" and "motorbike," respectively.

   2000, Gonda A. H. Van Steen, Venom in Verse