Month: December 2010
DYK? What does Paraprosdokian mean…
(Courtesy: Richard Salomon, Boston) |
Paraprosdokian sentences 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 or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but also play on the double meaning,creating a syllepsis.
Ø I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.
Ø Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
Ø I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car. Continue reading DYK? What does Paraprosdokian mean…
Back to Bhutan after 43 years
…….The last time Judith Steele was in Bhutan, a raven stole her soother.
Forty-three years later, the Yukon day-home operator returned to the country to have tea with Princess Ashi-Tashi.
The princess is 86 years old now, but remembers Judith’s father Peter Steele bringing his young family to her country to study goitre in 1967.
At the time, Peter was a doctor in London, and his boss treated the third king of Bhutan, who had a heart condition.
To repay him, the king invited both men to his sequestered country. Continue reading Back to Bhutan after 43 years