Replace? Substitute?

[ckcgordon]

Sometimes for promotioin purpose we change part of a fixed term. Let's imagine there is a brand of beer would like to make use of the image of polar bears. They may call themselves: Polar Beer.

My question is: do we have a term to describe this substitution phenomenon?

[competence]

Sometimes for promotioin purpose we change part of a fixed term. Let's imagine there is a brand of beer would like to make use of the image of polar bears. They may call themselves: Polar Beer.

My question is: do we have a term to describe this substitution phenomenon?

Hi ckcgordon,

I'm from the United States, and I would probably call Polar Beer a "play on words". Perhaps other native English speakers have an alternative suggestion?

I hope that helps.

Matthew Balson
Competence home

[ckcgordon]

Matthew, thanks for your reply.

But do you think "play on words" a bit too general? The phenomenon described here is very specific - it involves a substitution of part of a fixed term. In my mother tongue, we called this substitution "eating word" because the newly formed expression is obtained by "eating" part of the original term.

I was just wondering if there is a technical term to describe this interesting langauge phenomenon

[Anglika]

It is a pun, a play on words. That is the way it is described.