Expatiating on a topic that has been broached here before, this morning Y-H-B was waiting to have his car serviced when the advisor came up to me and said: “Your repair is movin’ and groovin’.” It is clear that by using a phrase from common parlance influenced by the whole rap and hip-hop culture we are all assaulted by daily, the advisor wanted to emphasize to me that my car would soon be finished.

All paronomasia is a form of repetition––in this case that of sound. The most prominent species of paronomasia is, of course, rhyme, which is utilized not only in poetry but in ordinary discourse and in advertising. The effect of repetition, whether it occurs in speech, in fashion, or in other forms of behavior, always adds emphasis to what is being expressed. That is also repetition’s functional core.

MICHAEL SHAPIRO