Asteismus

Asteismus is a rhetorical term for a mocking or humorous reply that employs word play.^[1]

Examples

Professor Wagstaff: Tomorrow we start tearing down the college.

Professors: But professor, where will the students sleep?

Professor Wagstaff: Where they always sleep: in the classroom.

(Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers, 1932)

Captain Spaulding: [to Mrs. Rittenhouse and Mrs. Whitehead] Let's get married.

Mrs. Whitehead: All of us?

Captain Spaulding: All of us.

Mrs. Whitehead: Why, that's bigamy.

Captain Spaulding: Yes, and it's big of me too.

(Groucho Marx and Margaret Irving in Animal Crackers, 1930)

References

1. Brett Zimmerman (1 September 2005). Edgar Allan Poe: Rhetoric and Style. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-7735-2899-4. Retrieved 15 July 2013.