Paraprosdokian

A paraprosdokian (from Greek "παρα-", meaning "beyond" and "προσδοκία", meaning "expectation") is 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 reframe the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists.

An especially clever paraprosdokian not only changes the meaning of an early phrase, but also plays on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a syllepsis.

Examples

* "I don't smoke, I don't drink and I don't gamble, but I do lie." — Tim Maia
* Where there's a will, I want to be in it.
* Generally speaking, women are.
* The car stopped on a dime, which unfortunately was in a pedestrian's pocket.
* I'm trying... very trying.
* I don't smoke anymore, nor do I smoke any less.
* "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate." — Henry J. Tillman [ [http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/henryjtil107609.html "Henry J. Tillman Quotes."] "BrainyQuote." Retrieved on 2007-12-16.]
* "Onward he came, and his feet were shod with his—chilblains." — Aristotle [Aristotle. (350 BCE.) [http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.3.iii.html "Rhetoric."] "The Internet Classics Archive" at MIT. Retrieved on 2007-12-11.]
* "I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat." — Will Rogers [ [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Rogers "Will Rogers."] "Wikiquotes." Retrieved on 2007-12-16.] [ [http://www.cmgworldwide.com/historic/rogers/quotes2.htm "Will Rogers on..."] "The Official Site of Will Rogers." Retrieved on 2007-12-16.]
* "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it." — Groucho Marx
* "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." — Groucho Marx
* "I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I don't know." — Groucho Marx
* "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." — Groucho Marx
* "I want to die like my father, quietly, in his sleep—not screaming and terrified like his passengers." — Bob Monkhouse [McLeod, Duncan. (2007-06-25) [http://www.duncans.tv/2007/bob-monkhouse-on-prostate-cancer "Bob Monkhouse on Prostate Cancer."] "Duncan's TV Ad Land." Retrieved on 2007-12-16.]
* "A modest man, who has much to be modest about." — Winston Churchill (of Clement Attlee) [Leyne, Les. (1998-01-24.) [http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=826 "Churchill Tops the List."] "The Churchill Centre." Retrieved on 2007-12-11.]
* "I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too." — Mitch Hedberg
* "If you are going through hell, keep going." — Winston Churchill
* "I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long." — Mitch Hedberg
* "Take my wife — please." — Henny Youngman [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0950267/bio "Biography for Henny Youngman."] "IMDB.com." Retrieved on 2007-12-11.]
* "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they've exausted every other option." — Winston Churchill
* "I like going to the park and watching the children run and jump around, because you see, they don't know I'm using blanks." — Emo Philips
* "I decided to go into a draconian diet, cutting alcohol, fat, and sugar. In two weeks, I lost 14 days." — Tim Maia
* "I've never seen him so down, or ever before." — Scruffy in Futurama
*"If I could say a few words, I would be a better public speaker." — Homer Simpson [ [http://www.snpp.com/episodes/3F20.html "3F20 Much Apu About Nothing."] "The Simpson's Archive." Retrieved on 2008-02-09.]
* "We broke up because I caught her lying... under another man." — Doug Benson
* "If I am reading this graph correctly – I would be very surprised." — Stephen Colbert [Allen, Mike. (2008-03-04) [http://www.politico.com/playbook/0308/234_Page2.html "Who's Ted Williams, who's DiMaggio?"] politico.com Retrieved on 2008-05-02.]
* "I was expelled from college for cheating. It was very serious, because it was with the dean's wife." — Woody Allen
* "I'm on a whisky diet; I've lost three days already." — Tommy Cooper
* "Mark my words. No, Mark, I really need my words." — Stephen Colbert
* "How can I love you if you won't lie down?" — David Berman
* "I woke up in the morning, my sister made some eggs. So we cooked them." Emo Phillips
* "If all the girls at Vassar were laid end to end, I wouldn't be surprised." Dorothy Parker
* "I blew a speaker in my car the other day... yea, I think he was a public speaker" Doug Stanhope

ee also

*Garden path sentence
*Humorous triple
*List of linguistic example sentences

References