| amphibology |
| Definition -
(1) An ambiguously structured clause or sentence that can be interpretted in multiple ways. (2) A figure of speech where the ambiguity is purposely created by using an ambiguously structured clause or sentence. |
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Example - "I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know." (Groucho Marx, Animal Crackers) |
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Etymology - The word derives from the Greek amphibolia, ambiguity + logia, speech. |
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Oxford English Dictionary - Its first citation for sense (1) is from circa 1374: "For goddes speken in amphibologies, And for o soth, they tellen twenty lyes." (Chaucer Troylus iv. 1406) Its first citation in sense (2) is from 1589: "Such ambiguous termes they call Amphibologia, we call it the ambiguous, or figure of sence incertaine." (Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 267) |