#antimetabole

[dailyautismthoughts]

I was thinking about types of phrases where there's a statement and then the statement is reversed to seem humorous or deep.

Turns out they have a name: the antimetabole.

Examples:

All for one and one for all!

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

The things you own end up owning you.

You can take the tiger out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the tiger.

I mean what I say and I say what I mean.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

[rocrown]

sure, Mikhail Bakunin, the urge to destroy is also a creative urge, but did you ever consider that the urge to create is also a destructive urge.

[postersbykeith]

[drgideonfell]

Current status:

Laid back in my bed eating sausage

Sipping on gin and juice

With my mind on antimetabole

And antimetabole on my mind

[theyuniversity]

[theyuniversity]

“Antimetabole” [an-tee-meh-ta-boh-lee] is a literary and rhetorical device in which a phrase or sentence is repeated, but in reverse order, e.g., “Eat to live, not live to eat.”

[theyuniversity]

[theyuniversity]

“Antimetabole” [an-tee-meh-ta-boh-lee] is a literary and rhetorical device in which a phrase or sentence is repeated, but in reverse order: “Eat to live, not live to eat.”