name that wordplay
December 5, 2010 3:19 PM Subscribe
Is there a name for the type of wordplay where phrases are strung along by overlapping the ones preceding them?
Example: JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN MITT ROMNEY.
Example: JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN MITT ROMNEY.
We use these for trivia team names and call them "Before and Afters" after the Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune categories.
(ie. Virginia Woolf Blitzer's The Situation Room of One's Own)
posted by synecdoche at 3:33 PM on December 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
(ie. Virginia Woolf Blitzer's The Situation Room of One's Own)
posted by synecdoche at 3:33 PM on December 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
I think its called a spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints
posted by ian1977 at 4:05 PM on December 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by ian1977 at 4:05 PM on December 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
Best answer: More or less a Word Chain. It doesn't seem to have a proper name in English. French has it as 'jeu des kyrielles', or 'game of myriads'; interesting name, if not terribly descriptive.
posted by Spanner Nic at 4:40 PM on December 5, 2010
posted by Spanner Nic at 4:40 PM on December 5, 2010
I think I know what you mean, but that's not the example I would've chosen. I'd've used Miss Susie/Steamboat.
posted by curious nu at 5:16 PM on December 5, 2010
posted by curious nu at 5:16 PM on December 5, 2010
Best answer: word association football
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 5:49 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 5:49 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Aposiopesis?
posted by nicebookrack at 6:28 PM on December 5, 2010
posted by nicebookrack at 6:28 PM on December 5, 2010
Response by poster: Jeu des Kyrielles in France, Shiritori in Japan, Antakshari in India, Igra v Goroda in Russia, Kaladont in Serbia, Word Association Football in England. Awesome.
posted by eddydamascene at 8:19 PM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by eddydamascene at 8:19 PM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Antakshiri is this kind of wordplay specifically with songs. And baitbaazi is this kind of word play for poetry in Urdu and/or Persian, possibly Arabic too. I was always taught that baitbaazi should be translated to "capping verses" so I guess that might be another English term for you.
posted by bardophile at 1:36 AM on December 6, 2010
posted by bardophile at 1:36 AM on December 6, 2010
Response by poster: I think its called a spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints
Corresponded through memail, that's from Dave Egger's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
I was always taught that baitbaazi should be translated to "capping verses" so I guess that might be another English term for you.
Interesting. Sounds gangsta.
posted by eddydamascene at 7:42 PM on December 6, 2010
Corresponded through memail, that's from Dave Egger's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
I was always taught that baitbaazi should be translated to "capping verses" so I guess that might be another English term for you.
Interesting. Sounds gangsta.
posted by eddydamascene at 7:42 PM on December 6, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by moonmilk at 3:30 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]