A play on
words is a literary technique where words are used in an unusual way, putting emphasis on the
words themselves in an unconventional manner. A , which is when an alternate meaning of a word
is exploited with a humorous intent, is an example of a play on words.
In the
example about which you are asking, Nadia uses two words which are almost identical to create an
interesting literary effect. In response to Noah's facetious comment that her dog, Ginger,
"is the dog that invented E = mc2", Nadia replies haughtily,
"Ginger is a genius of her genus. She is the best there is of
Canis familaris, and Alice is the best of her litter".
The play on words here involves two words which differ in spelling
by only one letter, genius, and genus, which means
"species". Nadia, who always asserts that "Ginger is a genius", is
qualifying her statement, emphasizing that Ginger is indeed very smart, for a dog.
As Noah and everyone else should well know, Nadia is not so arrogant as to claim that
Ginger is smarter than a human genius such as Einstein, the discoverer of the formula E = mc2.
Nadia is only saying that, among the world of dogs, Ginger's genus, or species, Ginger is far
smarter than average, or, in other words, a genius, and that Alice, the
puppy that Nadia wants to give to Julian, is the best of her
litter (Chapter 3).
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