In Defense of Teaching Zeugma

Zeugma? What? I know. Our thoughts exactly several years ago when my students and I were going over the correct answers to a sample AP Language and Composition test. It was one of the answer choices but was not the correct answer. Nonetheless, it piqued our curiosity, and we looked it up. The definition: the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when appropriate to each but in a different way. Still confused? So were we. Sample sentence: On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold. Okay–now we get it. Caught three trout has a different meaning than caught a cold. That is a zeugma. 

The fact that it caused curiosity obviously caused the knowledge to stick. I knew they were rare because I couldn’t think of any I knew. Fast forward a few years. I was teaching Bitton-Jackson’s I Have Lived a Thousand Years for the first time. (She uses rhetorical techniques and devices so well, that teaching even excerpts of this book to students helps them learn to recognize them (and what they are communicating as well as how to use them in their own writing.) In the chapter a zeugma is used, her family is forced into the Jewish ghetto. She lists for the reader those who were on the other side of the fence (the perpetrators and the bystanders): “The cock-feathered policemen who had trampled on our sofas and our self-esteem,...” I realized that she had used zeugma. It is a powerful zeugma as it shows the damage the policemen did to them both physically and emotionally. Later, she uses another one. While getting “initiated” into Auschwitz, she says, “SS officers barked. Dogs barked.” Even though the sentences are separate, they function as one. The way in which the two separate groups bark is different. The point she makes is powerful. While the SS Officer’s bark shows complete and utter disrespect for the Jews, the dogs’ barking emphasizes their fate if they don't comply. Both have a dramatic effect. These are the only two zeugmas I have found in any work I’ve taught so far. 

According to litcharts.com, the word zeugma comes from the ancient Greek and means “a yoking.” That makes sense. The verbs “trampled” and “barked” yoke the separate meanings together. An example they use is: “He took his hat and his vacation.” The verb took yokes two unrelated concepts together like Bitton-Jackson has yoked sofa and self-esteem and SS Officers and dogs. This source also says that zeugmas “tend to have comedic or dramatic effect.” 

So why teach them if they are rare (and actually somewhat hard to write)? The best reason–it allows your students to join the ZEUGMA CLUB–a club that only people who know what a zeugma is can join.) They love the rarity of the technique. You teach them what it is (even if your students don’t get to read Bitton-Jackson’s amazing zeugmas), and students practice writing them. Some will rock at this; some will not. (I’m part of the some-will-not group.) I allowed students who liked their zeugmas to submit them to me for a BEST ZEUGMA contest. I typed them up (no names), and students voted on the best zeugmas. 

Another reason? The act of looking for a zeugma requires hyper focus on syntax and diction. Students aren’t used to doing this. It turns them into sleuths. If they continue this practice, they will eventually easily find a writer’s rhetorical techniques–which is where the central ideas are housed. Rhetorical techniques emphasize and make a point. Both of Bitton-Jackson’s zeugmas make a point and emphasize how atrocious the Jews have been treated by the Nazi perpetrators. 

One 7th grader realized she had written a zeugma in her science response the next day. Boy was she thrilled. Boy did the other students think this was cool. Remember–zeugmas are hard to write; most of us struggled. This same student realized there was a zeugma in a song they were learning in choir. She heard it; she didn’t read it. She looked it up on the Internet to show all of us. The other students were impressed. They hadn’t noticed that in choir. Kids are recognizing puns in the music they listen to–wondering if they are zeugmas. They have learned the difference between a pun and a zeugma. What is impressive though, is they do recognize that a zeugma, like a pun, has comedic effect. All of this came about from a half of a period lesson on zeugma. (We spent the first half of the period studying the dash.) Getting our students interested in syntax and diction is a win. Zeugma? Yes, it is worth teaching!

Ⓒ Sarah Stratton 2025 All Rights Reserved