“Because he swings so neatly through the trees, an ape feels natural in the word trapeze.”
About This Quote
What kind of wordplay is this? <div><br><div><span style="background-color: initial;"><span style="font-size: 0.875rem;">Trapeze itself is a kind of (</span>vague<span style="font-size: 0.875rem;"> or complex) o</span></span><span style="background-color: initial;"><span style="font-size: 0.875rem;">nomatopoeia. The word swings and lingers, as you say it. The word is also phenomime, or shape word, at least on some highly abstract level with "e-z-e" </span></span><span style="background-color: initial;"><span style="font-size: 0.875rem;">— </span>emulating<span style="font-size: 0.875rem;"> the visual akimbo of a body on a </span></span><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: 0.875rem;">trapeZe. </span><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: 0.875rem;">Or the two e's being the open space and the Z the body within it. </span></div></div><div><br></div> The ape enters the equation, which intensifies the onomatopoeia/phenomime. Because it feels natural. It fits so well. <div><br></div><div>(Answer: Analogous Intensifier of an <span style="background-color: initial; font-size: 0.875rem;">onomatopoeia? </span><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: 0.875rem;">Haha.)</span></div><div><br></div>
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