Thursday word: paraprosdokian

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

paraprosdokian (pa-ra-prohz-DOH-kee-an) - n., a figure of speech in which the latter part of a phrase or sentence causes the listener/reader to reinterpret the first part.


The key being that the end is surprising. When done well, you get good comedy: "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it." "I haven't slept for ten days because that would be too long." When done badly, you get a garden path sentence: "The girl told the story cried." "The raft floated down the river sank." "Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms" (which is a real headline, the one for which crash blossoms were named). As for the word itself, like most rhetorical terms, it was adopted from Greek (literal meaning: "beyond expectation") -- the ancient Greeks loved analyzing how to speak.

---L.

Comments

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

A headline from an old company newsletter: "Aerojet hosts burn survivors at Kings game". Which caused me to wonder what the alien invaders had against hockey.
(But I don't think that's an example of paraprosdokian; it's just the first thing that came to mind when I saw "crash blossoms".)

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that blossom's pretty crashy, but you don't actually reinterpret so much as unpack.

[firelakie.livejournal.com]

I like this one! My guy says stuff like this daily.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Every day an adventure?

[myspin.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I enjoy all the snippets of wisdom shared here, but some resonate more than others. This one's a keeper!

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

I like it myself.

[but_can_i_be_trusted]

I love it; it sounds very much like the sort of up-ended logic that Gracie Allen would have used. :)

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Say goodnight!