Lesson
A paraprosdokian 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 re-frame or re-interpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists.
Paraprosdokians is taken from two Greek words, “para” which means “beyond” and “prosdokian” which means “expectation”. So, a good paraprosdokian is a sentence (or sometimes two) which is beyond the expectation of the listener. In other words, the second part of the sentence or a phrase delivers something quite unexpected to the audience.Are you ready for some extreme examples of the paraprosdokian?
Here we go in pursuit of the perfect paraprosdokian:
1.Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
2.If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
3.War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
4.To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
5.I didn't say it was your fault; I said I was blaming you.
6.Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.
7.You're never too old to learn something stupid.
Can you add any paraprosdokian?
