Paraprosdokians, anyone?

I hadn’t heard of the term “paraprosdokians” until I visited englishforums.com.   The definition:  “a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to re-frame or re-interpret the first part.”   Englishforums.com offers 30 paraprosdokians, including these:

Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.

Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America ?

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Share

Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Avatar of Tony Coyle
    Tony Coyle

    I hadn't encountered the term before, although I've seen (and used) many examples.

    I used to call these Invert Oxymorons 😀

    Having a proper name to describe them is so cool! I love etymology!

  2. Avatar of Niklaus Pfirsig
    Niklaus Pfirsig

    My favorite from "The Hitchhikers Guide":

    What's so bad about being drunk? Ask a glass of water.

Leave a Reply