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date: 18 March 2025

Wellerisms. 

Source:
Garner's Modern English Usage
Author(s):

Bryan Garner

A wellerism (after Sam Weller or his father, two noted characters in Charles Dickens's Pickwick Papers [1836–1837]), is a statement, especially a proverbial or allusive one, in which the speaker puts the words in a new light or a surprising setting, often by means of punning. E.g.:... ...

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