The English Oracle

Stop if you feel faint or pain!

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Music by Eric Matyas
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Track title: Dreaming in Puzzles

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Chapters
00:00 Stop If You Feel Faint Or Pain!
00:51 Answer 1 Score 0
01:14 Accepted Answer Score 11
01:40 Thank you

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Full question
https://english.stackexchange.com/questi...

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Tags
#grammar #signage #syllepsis

#avk47



ACCEPTED ANSWER

Score 11


"Stop if you feel faint or pain" is an example of syllepsis:

A figure of speech in which one word simultaneously modifies two or more other words such that the modification must be understood differently with respect to each modified word; often causing humorous incongruity.

The syllepsis section of wikipedia's zeugma article includes numerous examples of several forms. Both of your suggested revisions correctly improve upon the original wording.




ANSWER 2

Score 0


I agree: the sentence is awkward because it's imposing double-duty on a word.

I came across a deliberate example like this once in a humor book. It went something like, "On the one hand, Dr Shickley is a careful and thorough researcher. On the other hand he wears a ring."