Why “asteismus” is a great word
ASTEISMUS — [Noun] A rhetorical figure of witty reply that humorously puns on or plays with a word just used by another speaker. From Latin astĕïsmŏs, from Ancient Greek ἀστείσμός (asteísmós, 'refined or urbane style of speaking'), from ἀστεῖος (asteîos, 'of the city, urbane, witty'), from ἄστυ (ástu, 'town, city'). Unlike a 'pun'—a solitary play on words—or 'antistasis'—repeating a word in a different sense within one's own argument—asteismus is conversational fencing, a riposte that catches an opponent’s own blade and turns it. It is the courtroom barrister neatly skewering a witness’s vagueness, the deft pivot that leaves an instigator momentarily disarmed, the quiet click of a social lock sliding into place—a testament to the fact that the cleverest prisons are built with the other person’s bricks.