[Home]History of Ambiguity

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Revision 10 . . (edit) October 20, 2001 5:45 pm by (logged).4.254.xxx [recipical link]
Revision 9 . . October 20, 2001 6:54 am by Koyaanis Qatsi [typo. & groucho's fond of that kind of humor, isn't he? :-)]
Revision 8 . . October 20, 2001 6:49 am by Lee Daniel Crocker [Complete rewrite. Deserves to be clearer :-)]
  

Difference (from prior major revision) (minor diff, author diff)

Changed: 9c9
In literature and rhetoric, on the other hand, ambiguity can be a useful tool. [Grouch Marx]?'s classic joke depends on a grammatical ambiguity for its humor, for example: Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas I'll never know. Songs and poetry often rely on ambiguous words for artistic effect, as in the song title "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" (where "blue" can refer to the color, or to sadness).
In literature and rhetoric, on the other hand, ambiguity can be a useful tool. Groucho Marx's classic joke depends on a grammatical ambiguity for its humor, for example: Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas I'll never know. Songs and poetry often rely on ambiguous words for artistic effect, as in the song title "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" (where "blue" can refer to the color, or to sadness).

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