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TMESIS
Tmesis (Greek, τμῆσις "a cutting") is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is inserted into another word, often for humorous effect. The insertion may occur between the parts of a compound word, of an infinitive (split infinitive), or between syllable boundaries (dystmesis).
It is also referred to as diacope. Another synonym is tumbarumba, possibly due to the popularity of tmesis in Australian speech, or possibly due to the poem "Tumba Bloody Rumba" by John O'Grady, which includes several tmeses including "Tumba-bloody-rumba", "e-bloody-nough", and "kanga-bloody-roos". [1]
Linguists sometimes describe tmesis as a form of infixing.
Examples:
- "I can't find it any-blooming-where" (see also expletive infixation)
- "any-old-how" (parallel to "any old thing")
- "ri-goddamn-diculous" (attributed to John Wayne, in an address to some quondam graduating ROTC cadets, also used in the movies Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me)
- Perhaps the most famous example of tmesis employed within a proper name is the popular American expression of surprise or frustration: "Jesus H. Christ" For many years the British have used the similar "Christ All-bleeding-mighty".
- In The Simpsons, Ned Flanders sometimes inserts the nonsense word "diddly" into the middle of words, as in "wel-diddly-elcome"
- In Babylon 5, Captain John Sheridan, and later Delenn, used "Abso-fraggin-lutely."
- In Sex and the City, Mr. Big often states, "Abso-fuckin'-lutely."
- In Saturday Night Live, Chris Farley's motivational speaker character Matt Foley was known to exclaim "La-dee-freakin'-da!"
- The phrase "congratu-fucking-lations" is often used sarcastically in the U.S., as is "unbe-fucking-lievable".
- "Whoopdee-damn-doo," coined by basketball player Derrick Coleman.
Tmesis is also a poetic or rhetorical device from classic Latin poetry, such as Ovid's Metamorphoses. Words such as circumdare, to surround, are split apart with other words of the sentence in between, e.g. circum virum dant: "they surround the man". This device is used in this way to create a visual image of surrounding the man by means of the words on the line.
References
- ^ Tumba Bloody Rumba
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