Thread: Москве жалко денег

Москве жалко денег. Но не тех, которые требует за прокáт своей трубІ

Okay, I'm going to guess that this is intended to mean: Москве жалко деньги, но Москве не жалко тех, которые требуют за прокат своей трубы. (Moscow hates to part with money, but Moscow does not feel sympathy for those [the Chechens] who demand rent-money for their pipeline.)

If my interpretation is correct, then ...жалко денег. Но не тех... is intended to be an example of the rhetorical device known as zuegma or "syllepsis", in which a single word relates to two or more clauses, and has a different meaning in each clause. The wikipedia article gives some famous English examples of "syllepsis":

• There's people on the street using guns and knives, taking drugs and each others lives." -- Flight of the Conchords (In "to take drugs", the verb "take" means принять, but in "to take a life", the meaning is more like украсть.)

• "Oh, flowers are as common here, Miss Fairfax, as people are in London." -- The Importance of Being Earnest ("Common" means часто и везде встречающийся in the first clause, but бульварный or пошлый in the second -- Miss Fairfax herself is from London, and the sentence is spoken by a non-London woman as a subtle insult.)

• "You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff." -- Groucho Marx (The preposition "in" is used in three different senses, depending on the noun that follows it. "Taxi" is a concrete noun; "huff" is an abstract noun that means сердитое настроение; "in a minute" here means "after a minute," not "inside a minute." And finally, "in a minute and a huff [half]" can be interpreted as either через полтора минуты or через минуту, и в сердитом настроении!)

Anyway, do you think I'm right that "...жалко денег. Но не тех..." is an example of zuegma/syllepsis, with жалко used only once, but in two different senses?