Anti-proverb

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A fishing pun on the proverb "Good things come to those who wait." Good things come to those who bait anti-proverb plaque.jpg
A fishing pun on the proverb "Good things come to those who wait."
Graphic spoof on the proverbial concept of "big fish eat little fish", from Spanish context. (The text translates as "Don't panic, organize!") Buenos Aires Graffiti.jpg
Graphic spoof on the proverbial concept of "big fish eat little fish", from Spanish context. (The text translates as "Don't panic, organize!")

An anti-proverb or a perverb is the transformation of a standard proverb for humorous effect. [1] Paremiologist Wolfgang Mieder defines them as "parodied, twisted, or fractured proverbs that reveal humorous or satirical speech play with traditional proverbial wisdom". [2] Anti-proverbs are ancient, Aristophanes having used one in his play Peace , substituting κώẟων "bell" (in the unique compound "bellfinch") for κύων "bitch, female dog", twisting the standard and familiar "The hasty bitch gives birth to blind" to "The hasty bellfinch gives birth to blind". [3]

Contents

Anti-proverbs have also been defined as "an allusive distortion, parody, misapplication, or unexpected contextualization of a recognized proverb, usually for comic or satiric effect". [4] To have full effect, an anti-proverb must be based on a known proverb. For example, "If at first you don't succeed, quit" is only funny if the hearer knows the standard proverb "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again". Anti-proverbs are used commonly in advertising, such as "Put your burger where your mouth is" from Red Robin. [5] Anti-proverbs are also common on T-shirts, such as "Taste makes waist" and "If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you".

T-shirts are common sites for anti-proverbs Andrew Jackson actor.jpg
T-shirts are common sites for anti-proverbs

Standard proverbs are essentially defined phrases, well known to many people, as e. g. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. When this sequence is deliberately slightly changed ("Don't bite the hand that looks dirty") it becomes an anti-proverb. The relationship between anti-proverbs and proverbs, and a study of how much a proverb can be changed before the resulting anti-proverb is no longer seen as proverbial, are still open topics for research. [6]

Classification

There have been various attempts at classifying different types of anti-proverbs, based on structure and semantics, including by Mieder, Litovkina, [7] and Valdeva. [8] What follows is somewhat synthetic of these.

Classification on formal criteria

Classification on content criteria

Types of humorous effects

History

Anti-proverbs have been used and recognized for a long time. The Greek musician Stratonicus of Athens used an anti-proverb to mock a cithara-singer who had been nicknamed "Ox". He twisted the standard Greek proverb "The ass hears the lyre", replacing the first word to produce "The Ox hears the lyre." [10]

However, the term "anti-proverb" was not coined until 1982 by Wolfgang Mieder. [4] The term became more established with the publication of Twisted Wisdom: Modern Anti-Proverbs by Wolfgang Mieder and Anna T. Litovkina. [11]

An anti-proverb, formed by adding an unexpected cynical phrase to the end, with an apropos cartoon Anti-proverb cartoon.png
An anti-proverb, formed by adding an unexpected cynical phrase to the end, with an apropos cartoon

They were one of the many experimental styles explored by the French literary movement Oulipo. The term perverb is attributed to Maxine Groffsky. [12] [13] The concept was popularised by Oulipo collaborator Harry Mathews in his Selected Declarations of Dependence (1977). [13]

Anti-proverbs have been alternatively named "postproverbials" by Aderemi Raji-Oyelade, (also known by his pen name, Remi Raji). [14] This term has been adopted by some African proverb scholars, seen in a large collection of articles about antiproverbs/postproverbials in the journal Matatu 51,2 , edited by Aderemi Raji-Oyelade and Olayinka Oyeleye. [15]

Anti-proverbs in literature

Some authors have bent and twisted proverbs, creating anti-proverbs, for a variety of literary effects. For example, in the Harry Potter novels, J. K. Rowling reshapes a standard English proverb into "It's no good crying over spilt potion" and Professor Dumbledore advises Harry not to "count [his] owls before they are delivered". [16]

From Nigeria, Adeyemi shows the use of both proverbs and anti-proverbs in Rérẹ́ Rún by Okediji. [17] Adeyemi believes that they add humor, color and beauty to his writing. But on a political plane, he believes "Anti-proverbs were also used to stimulate critical consciousness in the readers to fight for their rights but with wisdom. The conclusion of the paper was that the conscious manipulation of the so-called fixed proverbs could generate new proverbs, encourage creativity in the writers and expose hidden meanings of proverbs." [18]

In a slightly different use of reshaping proverbs, in the Aubrey–Maturin series of historical naval novels by Patrick O'Brian, Capt. Jack Aubrey humorously mangles and mis-splices proverbs, such as "Never count the bear's skin before it is hatched" and "There's a good deal to be said for making hay while the iron is hot." [19] An earlier fictional splicer of proverb is a character found in a novel by Beatrice Grimshaw, producing such combinations as "Make hay while the iron is hot" (very similar to an example from Capt. Aubrey) and "They lock the stable door when the milk is spilt". [20]

Part of G. K. Chesterton’s reputation as the “Prince of Paradoxes” rested on his ability to turn proverbs and clichés on their heads. One example of this facility occurs in his What’s Wrong with the World: Arguing that the education of children is better left to their mothers than to professional educators, he ends his argument with, “... [I]f a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” [21] Commenting on this, Dale Ahlquist in the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton blog, argues that there is considerable good sense in this paradoxical anti-proverb. He cites Chesterton’s own remark that “Paradox has been defined as ‘Truth standing on her head to get attention’”, and notes that Chesterton in the same passage explicitly concedes that there are things, like astronomy, that need to be done very well; whereas when it comes to writing love letters or blowing one’s nose, Chesterton argues that, “These things we want a man to do for himself, even if he does them badly.” [22]

Variations

Splicing two proverbs

In a slightly different pattern of reshaping proverbs humorously, pieces of multiple proverbs can be spliced together, e.g. "Never count the bear's skin before it is hatched" and "There's a good deal to be said for making hay while the iron is hot." [19]

Garden path proverbs

The term has also been used to describe a garden path sentence based on a proverb; namely, a sentence that starts out like the proverb, but ends in such a way that the listener is forced to back up and re-parse several words in order to get its real sense:

Proverbs beginning with Time flies like ... are popular examples in linguistics, e.g. to illustrate concepts related to syntax parsing. These examples are presumably inspired by the quip "Time flies like the wind; fruit flies like a banana", attributed to Groucho Marx. [23]

To be effective in written form, a garden-path proverb must have the same spelling and punctuation as the original proverb, up to the point where the reader is supposed to back up, as in the "time flies" example above. These spelling or punctuation constraints may be relaxed in perverbs that are spoken, rather than written:

Proverbs with surprising or silly endings

Proverb with twisted ending Early to bed coffee mug.png
Proverb with twisted ending

The term is also used in the weaker sense of any proverb that was modified to have an unexpected, dumb, amusing, or nonsensical ending—even if the changed version is no harder to parse than the original:

The anti-preverb "A rolling stone gathers momentum" (based on the saying by Publilius Syrus) is moderately popular in technology-minded circles, having been featured in several bumper stickers and T-shirts.[ citation needed ]

Puns on a proverb

The word has also been used for puns on proverbs: [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

A proverb or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial expression is a type of a conventional saying similar to proverbs and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. Collectively, they form a genre of folklore.

Spanish proverbs are a subset of proverbs that are used in Western cultures in general; there are many that have essentially the same form and content as their counterparts in other Western languages. Proverbs that have their origin in Spanish have migrated to and from English, French, Flemish, German and other languages.

A Japanese proverb may take the form of:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three wise monkeys</span> Pictorial maxim, embodying "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"

The three wise monkeys are a Japanese pictorial maxim, embodying the proverbial principle "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". The three monkeys are

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellerism</span> Type of witticism

Wellerisms, named after sayings of Sam Weller in Charles Dickens's novel The Pickwick Papers, make fun of established clichés and proverbs by showing that they are wrong in certain situations, often when taken literally. In this sense, Wellerisms that include proverbs are a type of anti-proverb. Typically a Wellerism consists of three parts: a proverb or saying, a speaker, and an often humorously literal explanation.

Paremiology is the collection and study of paroemias (proverbs). It is a subfield of both philology and linguistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paremiography</span> Study of the collection and writing of proverbs

Paremiography is the study of the collection and writing of proverbs. A recent introduction to the field has been written by Tamás Kispál. It is a sub-field of paremiology, the study of proverbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proverbidioms</span> 1975 painting by T. E. Breitenbach

Proverbidioms is a 1975 oil painting by American artist T. E. Breitenbach depicting over 300 common proverbs, catchphrases, and clichés such as "You are what you eat", "a frog in the throat", and "kicked the bucket". It is painted on a 45 by 67 inch wooden panel and was completed in 1975 after two years work, when the artist was 24. The included sayings are painted quite literally and appear comical and bizarre, especially if one does not at first realize what the painting is about. For example, "You are what you eat" is represented in the painting by a carrot eating a carrot. The painting also contains hidden social commentary, and a reference to Pieter Bruegel the Elder who did a 1559 painting of Dutch proverbs. The title Proverbidioms is a simple portmanteau word combining "proverb" with "idioms".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfgang Mieder</span> Scholar of proverbs (born 1944)

Wolfgang Mieder is a retired professor of German and folklore who taught for 50 years at the University of Vermont, in Burlington, Vermont, USA. He is a graduate of Olivet College (BA), the University of Michigan (MA), and Michigan State University (PhD). He has been a guest speaker at the University of Freiburg in Germany, the country where he was born.

<i>Keep Calm and Carry On</i> Motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939

Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities. Although 2.45 million copies were printed, and the Blitz did in fact take place, the poster was only rarely publicly displayed and was little known until a copy was rediscovered in 2000 at Barter Books, a bookshop in Alnwick. It has since been re-issued by a number of private companies, and has been used as the decorative theme for a range of products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It takes two to tango</span> Idiom

It takes two to tango is a common idiomatic expression which suggests something in which more than one person or other entity are paired in an inextricably-related and active manner, occasionally with negative connotations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bar joke</span> Jokes about someone walking into a tavern

A bar joke is a type of joke cycle. The basic syntax is as follows: "A <noun> walks into a bar and <humorous event happens>".

<i>Proverbium</i>

Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship is an academic journal covering paremiology, the study of proverbs. Each volume includes articles on proverbs and proverbial expressions, book reviews, a bibliography of recent proverb scholarship, and a list of recently (re)published proverb collections.

The Durham Proverbs is a collection of 46 mediaeval proverbs from various sources. They were written down as a collection, in the eleventh century, on some pages of a manuscript that were originally left blank. The manuscript is currently in the collection of Durham Cathedral, to which it was donated in the eighteenth century. The Proverbs form the first part of the manuscript. The second part, to which it is bound, is a copy of Ælfric's Grammar. Each proverb is written in both Latin and Old English, with the former preceding the latter. Olof Arngart's opinion is that the Proverbs were originally in Old English and translated to Latin, but this has since been disputed in a conference paper by T. A. Shippey.

Anna T. Litovkina is a Russian-born Hungarian linguist, a psychologist and a coach.

"It Ain't the Meat (It's the Motion)", also known as "It Ain't the Meat", is a rhythm and blues song written by Henry Glover and Syd Nathan. It was first recorded in 1951 by the Swallows and released by King Records. It was later covered by Maria Muldaur in a 1974 version that has been credited with popularizing the song's title phrase as a proverb, referring to the importance of a man's sexual technique over the size of his penis.

Proverbs in <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> Tolkiens use of proverbs

The author J. R. R. Tolkien uses many proverbs in The Lord of the Rings to create a feeling that the world of Middle-earth is both familiar and solid, and to give a sense of the different cultures of the Hobbits, Men, Elves, and Dwarves who populate it. Scholars have also commented that the proverbs are sometimes used directly to portray characters such as Barliman Butterbur, who never has time to collect his thoughts. Often these proverbs serve to make Tolkien's created world seem at once real and solid, while also remaining somewhat unfamiliar. Further, the proverbs help to convey Tolkien's underlying message about providence; while he keeps his Christianity hidden, readers can see that what appears as luck to the protagonists reflects a higher purpose throughout Tolkien's narrative.

Jennifer Speake, néeDrake-Brockman is a Canadian-British freelance writer and editor of reference books.

"Let sleeping dogs lie" is an English proverb known at least since the 14th century. This saying suggests that when an old problem is no longer causing anyone trouble, it might be better left undiscussed: "Possibly he cohabited with Miss Bloggs, but don't mention it in front of his wife, let the sleeping dogs lie", and dormant controversies should not be restarted even if they were never resolved. This intent is similar to the meanings of sayings like "Don't rock the boat", "Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you".

References

  1. Tuzcu, Öznur. 2018. Anti-Proverb as a Type of Intertextual Joke. Humanitas - International Journal of Social Sciences 12:34-48.
  2. p. 28, Mieder, Wolfgang. 2004. Proverbs: A Handbook. (Greenwood Folklore Handbooks). Greenwood Press.
  3. p. 4. Alster, Bendt. 1979. An Akkadian and a Greek proverb. A comparative study. Die Welt des Orients 10. 1-5.
  4. 1 2 p. xi, Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, & Fred Shapiro. The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  5. Wolfgang Mieder and Barbara Mieder, 1977, Journal of Popular Culture, 11:308–319.
  6. p. 166. Barta, Péter. 2009. Proverbial and Anti-Proverbial Variants of "on ne peut pas avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre." McKenna, K. J. ed., The proverbial "Pied piper": a festschrift volume of essays in honor of Wolfgang Mieder on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, 155–167. New York: Peter Lang.
  7. pp. 17–26, Litovkina, Anna Tóthné and Wolfgang Mieder. 2006. Old proverbs never die, they just diversify: a collection of anti-proverbs. Burlington: University of Vermont and Veszprém, Hungary: Pannonian University of Veszprém.
  8. Valdeva, Tatiana. 2003. Anti-proverbs or new proverbs: The use of English anti-proverbs and their stylistic analysis. Proverbium 20:379–390.
  9. "German Sayings: Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei - Greenhorn Germany". Greenhorn Germany. 2015-08-04. Archived from the original on 2018-10-23. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
  10. p. 386, fn. 665. Fortenbaugh, William. 2005. Theophrastus of Eresus Commentary Volume 8: Sources on Rhetoric and Poetics. Brill.
  11. Supplement volume to Proverbium . University of Vermont.
  12. Hunnewell, Susannah (2007). "Harry Mathews, The Art of Fiction No. 191". Vol. Spring 2007, no. 180. The Paris Review.{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  13. 1 2 3 Quinion, Michael. "Perverb". World Wide Words . Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  14. Raji, Remi. "Postproverbials in Yoruba Culture: A Playful Blasphemy." Research in African Literatures 30, no. 1 (1999): 74-82.
  15. Matatu 2020, vol.21.2 Table of Contents on postproverbials
  16. Heather A. Haas. 2011. The Wisdom of Wizards—and Muggles and Squibs: Proverb Use in the World of Harry Potter. Journal of American Folklore 124(492): 38.
  17. Lere Adeyemi. 2012. Proverbs and Anti-proverbs in Ọladẹjọ Okediji's Rérẹ́ Rún: A Marxist Perspective. Paremia 21: 2012, pp. 207–218. Web version of the article Archived 2020-07-09 at the Wayback Machine
  18. p. 207. Lere Adeyemi. 2012. Proverbs and Anti-proverbs in Ọladẹjọ Okediji's Rérẹ́ Rún: A Marxist Perspective. Paremia 21: 2012, pp. 207–218. Web version of the article Archived 2020-07-09 at the Wayback Machine
  19. 1 2 Jan Harold Brunvand. 2004. "The Early Bird Is Worth Two in the Bush": Captain Jack Aubrey's Fractured Proverbs. What Goes Around Comes Around: The Circulation of Proverbs in Contemporary Life, Kimberly J. Lau, Peter Tokofsky, Stephen D. Winick, (eds.), pp. 152–170. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. digitalcommons.usu.edu
  20. Unseth, Peter. 2020. Beatrice Grimshaw's proverb splicer and her artful usage of proverbs. Proverbium 37:341-358.
  21. G. K. Chesterton. 2014. “Folly and Female Education.” In The G. K. Chesterton Collection: 50 Books. Kindle ed., loc. 7506. London, England, UK: Catholic Way Publishing.
  22. Dale Ahlquist. April 29, 2012. “A Thing Worth Doing.” The Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton. .
  23. Groucho Marx quotes Archived 2013-01-18 at the Wayback Machine at www.quoteworld.org. Accessed on 2009-08-14.

Further reading

  1. Arnaud, Pierre J. L.; Maniez, François; Renner, Vincent (2015), Zirker, Angelika; Winter-Froemel, Esme (eds.), "Non-Canonical Proverbial Occurrences and Wordplay: A Corpus Investigation and an Enquiry Into Readers' Perception of Humour and Cleverness", Wordplay and Metalinguistic / Metadiscursive Reflection, Authors, Contexts, Techniques, and Meta-Reflection (1 ed.), De Gruyter, pp. 135–160, retrieved 2024-12-12