What's it called when someone starts a well-known saying but doesn't finish it?

Question

Often times in a TV show that I watch and love, Supernatural, the big bads use quotes and sayings to further their point. For example, Crowley, the current King of Hell at the time, replied to Dean, the protagonist, (in response to an insult)> Sticks and stones...It's implied that he was telling Dean that his words cannot hurt him, but I would like to know if this type of speech or writing has an actual name to it?In another moment, also by Crowley to Dean, he says> What's the line? Saving people, hunting things...This is a saying directly related to the show, as their family motto is> Saving people, hunting things, the family businessAt first, I thought the reason for them not saying the full quote was due to copyright and legal issues, as it wasn't only Crowley that spoke like this. But now, I'm thinking that in the writers' heads, maybe it's just a speech technique centered around inference, and I could be overthinking this... I'm asking if it has a name because I'd like to research it a little and flawlessly incorporate this technique into my writing.

Answer 1

Great question!

The fancy word you're looking for is anapodoton, a Greek rhetorical device making use of incomplete sentences, and which is so fancy, this spell-check doesn't recognize it.

But really, as much as I love fun obscure words, I doubt that knowing that one will help your writing as much as considering it a form of allusion, a more common device, which you probably already know, in which you call something to mind by hinting at it rather than stating it directly. So write on, Macduff (he said, alluding to Shakespeare), and don't stop till you get enough (maybe it's best to skip that allusion for now).

But while we're on the subject, here's a great twist on an anapodoton:

On the eve of the American Revolution, Patrick Henry was giving a speech at the Virginia House of Burgesses. Criticizing the king, he said, "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles II had his Cromwell, and George III..."

The other delegates caught the reference to assassinated leaders, and some interrupted him with shouts of "treason!" At which point Henry (I like to believe with a smile), finished his sentence, "...may he profit by their example."