paraprosdokian

[prettygoodword]

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." "If all the girls at Vassar were laid end to end, I wouldn't be surprised." "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" (real headline from which crash blossoms were named). As for paraprosdokian, like most rhetorical terms, it was adopted from Greek (root meaning, "beyond expectation") -- the ancient Greeks loved analyzing how to speak.

---L.

Comments

[amanen.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, I knew it was Greek! Seems studying the language does pay off a bit, haha. I love that there's a word for this. It's one of my favorite figures of speech.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

I won't go into how my favorite figure is still paralipsis (http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-par3.htm), but instead agree that paraprosdokian is a pretty good one.

---L.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had missed this word, but shikuchi called the entry to my attention. Excellent! Loved the Vassar one :D