I want to make a play on words.

Sounds like Mighty
But meaning has too many mites

Mitey doesn't look right.

English is a pure democracy. Everyone gets one vote about what it right. And your vote is as authoritative as any.

The mighty power of mites in 'Mitigate'

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:English is a pure democracy. Everyone gets one vote about what it right. And your vote is as authoritative as any.

Greftzeekling dal mek korlindar. Barecchiligak skorilgant.

Unless we want to accomplish the actual goal of communication over time, and not be innovative and clever for the sake of being innovative and clever. We could all invent words and unique usages, but then we'd lose meaning, and that which we record will be meaningless to posterity, because they will know what an "ask" is, but will be lost when confronted with the word "question."

I'd prefer to keep English to some sort of standard, preferably Canadian Standard, so as to avoid needlessly truncated words, and unwieldy spellings both.

Wordplay, though, is an entirely different creature. I would be boring and use the word "infested," but I would consider mitey to be appropriate (as in, it conveys the meaning) and clever.

-CK

r ranson wrote:I want to make a play on words.

Sounds like Mighty
But meaning has too many mites

Mitey doesn't look right.

Mitey totally looks right to me. "Those tomato leaves sure are mitey!".

Mite-ee
Mite-y
Mitey
?

Get an Australian friend to say "matey"?

Rebecca Norman wrote:Get an Australian friend to say "matey"?

LOL M80 https://philosophynow.org/issues/58/The_Death_of_Postmodernism_And_Beyond

there are seven techniques for play on words
1. A double entendre is the use of a ambiguous word that allow for a second usually racy interpretation.
2. A malaprop is the intentional misstatement or misuse of a word or phrase or the accidental substitution of an incorrect word for the correct one which humorous results.
3. An oxymoron is a joining of two incompatible ideas in one phrase.
4. A pun is a word used in such a way two or more of the words possible meanings are active simultaneously
5. Reforming is the process that adds a twist or of a surprise ending to a cliche (predictable phrase)
6. the simple truth is the opposite of a double entendre, it plays on the literal meaning of a keyword in an idiomatic phrase
7. The Take off is a statement of the standard version of a cliche or express by a realistic but highly exaggerated commentary.

Thanks and regards
Nishantt

my dog's ears are awfully mitey!!
(mite-y?)

nishantt singh wrote:there are seven techniques for play on words
1. A double entendre is the use of a ambiguous word that allow for a second usually racy interpretation.
2. A malaprop is the intentional misstatement or misuse of a word or phrase or the accidental substitution of an incorrect word for the correct one which humorous results.
3. An oxymoron is a joining of two incompatible ideas in one phrase.
4. A pun is a word used in such a way two or more of the words possible meanings are active simultaneously
5. Reforming is the process that adds a twist or of a surprise ending to a cliche (predictable phrase)
6. the simple truth is the opposite of a double entendre, it plays on the literal meaning of a keyword in an idiomatic phrase
7. The Take off is a statement of the standard version of a cliche or express by a realistic but highly exaggerated commentary.

Thanks and regards
Nishantt

This might interest you:
https://books.google.com/books?id=DjGOBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Lost+History+of+Esoteric+Writing%E2%80%9D+Arthur+M.+Melzer.&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwim-qPrnP7jAhXmmOAKHQljD_YQuwUwAHoECAEQBA#v=onepage&q&f=true
the art of saying something while seeming to say something else.

mitey it is
thanks guys.

When I was young, my Dad and Stepmother took in a kitten from the stable across the road. He was infested with mites in his ears, and so he got treated for them, and was rid of them... but not the name. He was Mitey... other names had been suggested and even tried, but Mitey stuck.
I even wrote about his story for an English assignment in school (basically a third grade embellishment of the last three sentences), and was horrified that my teacher "corrected" his name! HIS NAME!! (to Mighty) Upon questioning her, she was dismissive and wouldn't change my grade, even suggested that Mighty was a better name anyway.

still remember this 40 years later... scarred for life, I tell you.

Mitê, mitée, mity