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What is the name of the rhetorical device of slightly changing a standard phrase?

Here is an example:

McDonald's Yuan Menu

The original word, "Dollar," has been replaced with "Yuan," giving the phrase a new meaning, but a recognizable context.

Here's another example:

Clean Air Guitar Act

The word, "Guitar," has been inserted into the phrase, "Clean Air Act."

A near identical question has been asked here, "Changing a quotation so that the original is recognised, but has been given a new meaning."

Here are the answers that were provided to that question:

  • trope

  • reference

  • allusion

  • pop culture reference

  • play on a quote

  • snowclone

  • paraphrasing

None of these answers are good. Trope, reference, and allusion are very broad terms. More important, they don't actually describe the act of slightly altering a phrase, and instead are describing the mere mention of a phrase. Snowclone is not correct because a snowclone describes a template based on an idiom.

Community
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Kyle
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  • neologism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism – TsSkTo Dec 31 '15 at 19:07
  • The guitar example is kind of like parody. – Barmar Jan 01 '16 at 03:17
  • Twisted cliché/quote ? – Graffito Jan 30 '16 at 20:28
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    "Clean Air Guitar Act" would need a suitable context to be humorous, meaningful or worth stringing together. It's merely splicing together collocations with a common word, deleting one occurrence of the common word. Rather like missing the first two letters off every word. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 30 '16 at 21:27
  • @EdwinAshworth “Clean air guitar act” could almost be a puzzle in the “Before and After” category on “Wheel of Fortune.” (I only watch it to see how well Vanna White has held up over the years, of course!) – Papa Poule Mar 30 '16 at 22:22
  • @Brad -- You edited my question by changing more important to more importantly, claiming that you fixed a typo. While more important is not as frequently used in colloquial settings, it is actually the correct term. Reference: Common Errors in English Usage, Most Important, Not Most Importantly, The New Fowler's Modern English Usage – Kyle Mar 30 '16 at 22:58
  • ... It is not 'the correct term'. Both 'more important' and 'more importantly' are acceptable as linking-and-evaluative/emphasising pragmatic markers. Your linked article states this: ' "More important" and "more importantly" are used as full-sentence modifiers, often in the initial position and treated parenthetically (set off with a comma). Either phrase can usually be translated as "what is more important." ... Burchfield says that "more importantly" was a despised construction during the 1970s-80s, but that nowadays both phrases seem be used about equally and with equal acceptability.' – Edwin Ashworth Mar 31 '16 at 09:00
  • @Brad Editing the question by changing 'more important' to 'more importantly' is not taking accepted modern usage into account. Editing is a serious business, and one needs to be sure of one's facts before one attempts to make improvements. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 31 '16 at 09:07
  • @EdwinAshworth "More important" is the more correct term of the two. The only reason that "importantly" is accepted is because it was misused for so long that this solecism eventually became legitimized. E.g., it is technically correct to use the word "ironic" to mean "coincidental", but any copy editor will wince at this usage. – Kyle Mar 31 '16 at 09:28
  • @Kyle You had better write to inform Huddleston, Pullum et al of their error then. They include 'importantly' in their list of 'evaluative adjuncts'. [CGEL 2002 p 771]. They don't add 'only 90% correct'. // Do you still use 'It is I', or do you just choose according to personal preference which 'rules' to abandon? The Burchfield statement on acceptability would seem to trump prescriptive claims. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 31 '16 at 10:01
  • I choose according to the consensus of editors of formal writing. You may write, "Hopefully, the food is hot." But, again, even though it is technically correct, any copy editor will wince at this usage. – Kyle Mar 31 '16 at 10:19
  • Ok. I stand corrected, but I'm happy for the discourse my edit triggered, as it's pretty interesting! – Brad Mar 31 '16 at 11:10

3 Answers3

2

Phrasal template seems to be the best term for it. "McDonald's _____ Menu" is the template in that example, where any currency could be used to fill in the blank.

However,

Clean Air Guitar Act

is an example of a different type of wordplay, and not the same device as the "Yuan Menu". This is important because the distinction is that the "Yuan Menu" isn't using similar terms meant to be humorous, it's just to fit the McDonald's template.

user44294
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  • "Clean Air Guitar Act" is not actually a pun since there is only one meaning. A pun has two discrete meanings, such as, "The pigs were a squeal." – Kyle Dec 31 '15 at 19:16
  • @Kyle I've changed it to a more generic phrase. – user44294 Dec 31 '15 at 19:57
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You might say that you put a new twist on the phrase.

I think I'd prefer a more formal term if you can find one, though.

Solocutor
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0

It sounds a good deal like "metaplasm," though strictly speaking that term applies to changes of a letter or syllable in a word; the principle, however, seems to be what you are looking for: "Metaplasm 1. Grammar. Usu. with reference to classical languages: the alteration of a word by addition, removal, or transposition of letters or syllables; an instance of this." OED definition.

Richard
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