Need help

Posted by Smokey Stover on April 16, 2004

In Reply to: Need help posted by Janey on April 15, 2004

: "Being no less frank than Dutch, the family let its intentions be known." Is "Being no less frank than Dutch" a saying that has been used?

I don't think the phrase in question is a saying, except possibly in the family of the author you are quoting. You didn't ask the meaning, so I suppose you know that the family is both candid and stubborn (frank and Dutch). In my opinion, this is an example of zeugma, albeit a mild one. That is, "frank" and "Dutch," treated here as parallel expressions, are not quite parallel enough to avoid sounding incongruous together. If you want to see a definition of zeugma and some more striking examples (like "She left in a huff and a Chevy"), type zeugma in the search box, or zeugma and, for example, 755.html. SS