wispfox: (Default)
wispfox ([personal profile] wispfox) wrote2003-04-14 09:31 am
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The fact that this word[1] exists really amuses me:

tmesis \TMEE-sis\, noun:
In grammar and rhetoric, the separation of the parts of a compound word, now generally done for humorous effect; for example, "what place soever" instead of "whatsoever place," or "abso-bloody-lutely."

Examples of tmesis:

If on the first, how heinous e'er it be,
To win thy after-love I pardon thee.
--Shakespeare, Richard II

His income-tax return, he remarked, was the "most rigged-up marole" he'd ever seen.
--Frederic Packard

In two words, im possible.
--Samuel Goldwyn

[1]http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2003/04/14.html