"Cry chiasmus...
And let loose the blogs of words!"

Long before I became passionate about homonyms and homophones — indeed, before I even knew about the terms — I would sometimes construct what I thought were interesting sentences with a twist.

Essentially, I'd try to use two words in a phrase in one sense, then reverse the words to produce a different sense... if I could.

One of my very early efforts is this:

• You must work at being free, while being free to do your work! (February, 1989)

An even earlier attempt — perhaps not so insightful — was this one:

• Money will not rid us of the problem — the problem is to be rid of money. (June, 1982)

Those first attempts — and others not fit to reproduce here — made me fully realize the importance of sense and sound in the use of language. What I didn't know then is this: the phrase reversal that you see above has a specific name, called...

I'm sure you've seen more than one example of chiasmus in your travels. As a rhetorical device, I think there is no equal.

What is even more intriguing is that the man who brought this term to my attention — Dr Mardy Grothe — has a website devoted to the entire topic of chiasmus. If you missed the URL on my links page here, this is it:

Following my discovery of chiasmus and Mardy Grothe, I got stuck into trying my hand, and created quite a few such quotes, to the extent that I now have two published volumes:

You can see a sample of those for Volume 1 by clicking here (a new window will open).

And, you can savor a few from Volume 2 by clicking here (again, new window will open).

Now, seeing as how I can't stop, I keep thinking of more bons mots for your perusal (and amusement, I hope)...

• May 24th, 2002:
  
  Don't stop trying to do better, but if you become a nuisance, better try to stop. (Me? I just try to be a better bettor. ;)

• June 23rd, 2002:
  
  Spam is not a necessary evil; it's an evil necessary for those who spam! (Why is spam called spam? Well, it's just garbage, there's no meat in it, right!;)

• July 14th, 2002:
  
  What with all these corporate investigations,
  those involved in the prostitution of business
  have no business, evermore, in denouncing
  those involved in the business of prostitution.
  (Takes one to know one now, don't it? ;)

• August 11th, 2002:
  
  No — you can't be blamed for your parents, but your parents can be blamed for you... no? (And in more ways than one, too. ;)

• September 1st, 2002:
  
  Should some politicians think there are no alternatives to war left, eventually they may be left in a war with no alternatives. (Fortunately, every so often, we can elect alternative politicians, hmmm?)

• October 27th, 2002:
  
  Good judges like to keep lawyers in line, while lawyers like to keep a line on good judges. (Heck, I'd just like to get a line on anything good.)

• November 23rd, 2002:
  
  Would-be writer's musings: "Well, I can get some ideas for a novel, but I can't get any novel ideas!" (So, I shouldn't make book on a novel until it's a novel book, huh?)

• December 15th, 2002:
  
  In the shower, he thinks he's "Singing In The Rain", but she'd like to just rein in the singing... (Well, now, then, there... maybe she should just rain on the singing?)

Would you like try your hand at chiasmus too? If so, you could get a FREE copy of my next volume (Volume 3), now in preparation.

Here's how...

If you have an original unpublished chiastic gem — it's yours and only yours — perhaps you'd like others to know about it? If so, send it to me here, or fill in this form now, below:

I can't promise to include all quotes that are submitted, but I will let you know, either way.

If your quote(s) is included, then you will get Volume 3 FREE!

Remember also, homonyms and homophones form the backbone of chiasmus...

So, to get you going with words that sound the same as each other... well, you can get those right here, with Roger’s Reference!



P.S. Well, with Volume One and Volume Two published, I thought "Is three a crowd"? What the hey — may as well go for broke, right? If you like what you see above, and you want to know the exact moment (in 2008) I unleash yet another beastly e-book that rips and tears at our language, then please do leave your name and email below:

Your Name (optional): Email Address: Will it be bigger and better than Volumes 1 and 2? I hope so, but that does depend upon the number of quotes submitted by people like you. Whatever happens, as soon as it's ready for download, you'll know about it.

Coming in 2008... Get on the mailing list now!