They just don’t come no better than a bear (mammal), who can bear (carry) much on its bare (no clothes) back. “And me I just bear up to my bewildered best, and there’s some folks even seen the bear in me.” Thank you, Steven Fromholtz, and the July 23, 2012 blog post on homophones, homonyms and heterographs. Just type “Bear, Bear, Bare” into the search box above and you’ll have plenty to reacquaint yourself with bears, Steven and the h-term words.

By way of a quick review, homophones are words that sound the same, have different meanings and can be spelled the same or differently. If they are spelled exactly the same (bear for animal and bear for carry), they are homonyms. If they are spelled differently (bear for a growly mammal and bare for where are my clothes?), they are heterographs.

That all seems straightforward enough, if somewhat confusing and hard to remember. But, what do you call a group of words that sounds like another separate word of different meaning?

Let me give you an example.

“This beach, this island, the hotel, the pool, the restaurant, the parrots, the butterflies and you,” the husband says, on his knees, to his wife, both of whom are on their second honeymoon. “It’s all just too much. Thank you for transporting me to paradise.”

A “paradise” is a place of extreme beauty, delight and happiness.

Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) wants to keep playing craps (a dice game) in the 1955 musical “Guys and Dolls.” Nathan’s friend, Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando), knows it’s time for Nathan to stop – the dice are cold and Nathan will lose his money. So, Sky proposes a bold bet: He, Sky, will roll the dice – if he loses, he will pay each of the other gamblers $1,000 – if he wins, they will all attend a prayer meeting at the local Mission. Sky bends down, shakes those dice and let’s ’em roll. The next scene is the front of the Mission. A line of gamblers is waiting to be let in. Sky won. He saved his friend Nathan from a cold pair of dice.

A “pair of dice,” which is often pronounced “pair a’ dice,” refers to two small cubes with each side having from one to six numbered spots. The dice are thrown in gambling games such as craps. Dice are also called “die.”

A big roll and a big win with a “pair a’ dice” could lead to a feeling of “paradise,” or it could lead, with the help of Marlon Brando, to a seat on a hard Mission bench and a sermon on the evils of a pair a’ dice and the odds of reaching paradise with those die in your hands.

The word “paradise” and the phrase “pair a’ dice” sound exactly the same to me, but they have different, if not opposite, meanings. They are like homophone words that are also heterographs, but one is a word and other is a phrase, and I cannot find a term for a word and phrase that sound the same and have different meanings.

Let us make up a new word.

Latin for a “phrase” or “group of words” is “coetus verba,” with “coetus” meaning “group” and “verba” meaning words. The suffix “onym” means word, and the prefix “hetero” means “different.” So, a different group of words for one word can be written “heterocoetusverbaonym.” That’s pretty long. Let’s shorten it to “heteroverbonym.” I like that.

A “heteroverbonym” is a group of words that sounds like a single word of different meaning.

The phrase “pair a’ dice” is a heteroverbonym to the word “paradise.”

Another heteroverbonym is “out a’ tea” for the word “oddity.” The English might say those have the same meaning.

And, here’s one by the Beatles: the phrase “can’t buy me love” (from the song “Can’t Buy Me Love”) comes out “puppy love” when sung by John and Paul. See the “Puppy Love” blog post of January 13, 2013 to hear this one. Wait a second – that’s two groups of words with the same sound and different meanings. Puppy lovers may say they have the same meaning. Nevertheless, we need a word for this group-to-group situation.

Let’s invent another word: heterocoetusverbym.

A “heterocoetusverbym” is a group of words that sounds like another group of words with a different meaning. We can thank the Boys from Liverpool for this one.

Keep your ears tuned to the next heteroverbonym or heterocoetusverbym as it sounds and waves its way to you on the avenues and airways of aural amusement and applause.

Good listening and distinguishing,

Grandpa Jim