style of writing: wordplay

Style of writing: wordplay

Wordplay is more of a literary device in which the words are arrange in a certain way to give meaning or to create a pun. Wordplay may also be a deliberate error in speech to give more meaning or to reference something.  

 

An example would be the Beatle’s song Norwegian wood (this bird has flown). The song is about a guy who goes home with a girl he just met hoping to have sex with her only to find that she’s tired and wants to go to bed. The girl tells the guy he can sleep in the bath tub. When the guy awakens he finds her missing. He then sets fire to the place.

 

The lyrics

I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me

She showed me her room, isn’t it good Norwegian wood  

 

Can also be interpreted as

I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me she showed me her room, isn’t it good knowing she would

 

The first interpretation tells us about the girl showing the guy her room (bedroom) and like any good host she tells him about the room and how the furniture is made of Norwegian wood. However Norwegian wood can also be pronounced as knowing she would when we lose the r in Norwegian wood. The second interpretation is that the guy entered the room knowing she would have sex with her.   

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~ by sivaram on April 16, 2009.

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