query on poetic figure (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

The comedian (comedienne?) Wendy Liebman uses this figure often in her
stand-up routines.  Her Wikipedia page gives several examples, but
doesn't name the figure of speech.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Arnold Zwicky
> Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 10:43 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: query on poetic figure
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      query on poetic figure
>
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> --------
>
> i feel really stupid asking this, but at the moment i can't recall the
> name of the well-known poetic figure in which a word is split between
> two lines.  it's often done in songs, to get a rhyme or to set up a
> temporary ambiguity ("She got pinched in the As / Tor Bar", "Which
only
> goes to show why I'm a broad / Shouldered guy"), but it can also be
> done to throw emphasis on the material at the end of the first line or
> the material at the beginning of the second, or for other reasons, as
> in the mini-poem i posted here:
>
> http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/mini-poem/
>
> where
>
>   tetra
>     metrical
>
> and
>
>   trocha
>     icity
>
> are both split, for, well, metrical reasons.
>
> surprisingly hard to search for if you don't have a clue about the
> term.
>
> arnold
>
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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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