Asteismus
A polite, witty reply that deliberately takes the speaker's words in another sense.
Asteismus (Greek asteios, 'urbane') is the figure of the elegant misunderstanding: the responder answers not the meaning intended but another meaning the words will bear, and does so with civility rather than insult.
It differs from a simple pun because the wit is reactive and social — it depends on someone else's sentence — and from sarcasm because the tone stays courteous. Renaissance rhetoricians prized it as the mark of a well-bred wit.
Shakespeare's clowns run on asteismus, answering literally where a figurative sense was meant, which is how they insult their betters without ever being rude enough to punish.
Common mistake: confusing it with wilful obtuseness. The reinterpretation has to be genuinely available in the words spoken; if the responder invents a meaning, the figure collapses into evasion.
“"Mend me, thou saucy fellow!" — "Why, sir, cobble you."”
Keep reading the glossary
The rhetorical name for the pun — a play on words that exploits sound similarity or multiple meanings.
The repetition of a word within a short passage, with a different meaning each time.
Quick, witty reply-and-counter-reply — wit measured by speed as much as by content.
A gap between what is said and what is meant — or between expectation and outcome.