THE PARAPROSDOKIAN. PART II
Just to refresh your memory...Etymology: From Ancient Greek (para, "against") +(prosdokia, "expectation.) Figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently used in a humorous context
"Where there's a will, I want to be in it" is a paraprosdokian
...and the topper is that she was
referring to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
If I could just say a few words...I'd be a better public speaker. --Homer Simpson
I don't belong to an organized political party, I'm a democrat. --Will Rogers
If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. — Dorothy Parker
While breeding isn’t everything, it is said to be lots of fun. --Gracie Allen...
Gracie...a woman after my own heart. Did some lunch hour digging to find out more about the deceptively dizzy dame whose affect of clueless innocence disguised an ingenious way to take aim at literal minded absurdities of all kinds. Of course she had great writers (including Al Boasberg--who wrote for dozens of vaudville acts, wrote The General for Buster Keaton and the scripts for the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera and Day at the Races) toiling away behind the scenes to keep the material coming, but from what I've read, she provided more than her share of ideas and dialogue.
I think there's so much good in the worst of us, and so many of the worst of us get the best of us, that the rest of us aren't even worth talking about.
Never place a period where God has placed a comma.
Don’t go around offending people just because it can be done sitting.
"I’m the only candidate who got
the idea of running myself.
All the others had to have
somebody else think it up for them."
In a 1940 stunt, Gracie ran for President as The Surprise Party candidate. On election day she received 42,000 write in votes:
I’m having my platform run up by a movie set designer, so it will be very impressive from the front, with nothing behind it.
And I found this short scene which convinced me that she must have been a secret muse to the "serious" absurdists like Beckett and Ionesco who rarely attained such heights of nonsensical clarity.
Scene: Amusement Park, Tunnel of Love
Reggie: (Gracie's escort) Lovely weather, isn't it?
Gracie: Yeah, it's a shame we can't see it
Reggie: Rather
Gracie: By the way, did you see the papers this morning?
Reggie: No, did you see them?
Gracie: No, but I wish this were yesterday, although I didn't see the papers yesterday morning. Did you see the papers yesterday morning?
Reggie: No.
Gracie: I never see the papers, but they're nice to talk about.
Reggie: Yes, they're so true to life.
Gracie: Oh, aren't we all?
Say Goodnight Gracie...
Just to refresh your memory...Etymology: From Ancient Greek (para, "against") +(prosdokia, "expectation.) Figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently used in a humorous context
"Where there's a will, I want to be in it" is a paraprosdokian
 |
| ...and the topper is that she was referring to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged |
If I could just say a few words...I'd be a better public speaker. --Homer Simpson
I don't belong to an organized political party, I'm a democrat. --Will Rogers
If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. — Dorothy Parker
While breeding isn’t everything, it is said to be lots of fun. --Gracie Allen...
Gracie...a woman after my own heart. Did some lunch hour digging to find out more about the deceptively dizzy dame whose affect of clueless innocence disguised an ingenious way to take aim at literal minded absurdities of all kinds. Of course she had great writers (including Al Boasberg--who wrote for dozens of vaudville acts, wrote The General for Buster Keaton and the scripts for the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera and Day at the Races) toiling away behind the scenes to keep the material coming, but from what I've read, she provided more than her share of ideas and dialogue.
I think there's so much good in the worst of us, and so many of the worst of us get the best of us, that the rest of us aren't even worth talking about.
Don’t go around offending people just because it can be done sitting.
|
| "I’m the only candidate who got the idea of running myself. All the others had to have somebody else think it up for them." |
I’m having my platform run up by a movie set designer, so it will be very impressive from the front, with nothing behind it.
And I found this short scene which convinced me that she must have been a secret muse to the "serious" absurdists like Beckett and Ionesco who rarely attained such heights of nonsensical clarity.
Scene: Amusement Park, Tunnel of Love
Reggie: (Gracie's escort) Lovely weather, isn't it?
Gracie: Yeah, it's a shame we can't see it
Reggie: Rather
Gracie: By the way, did you see the papers this morning?
Reggie: No, did you see them?
Gracie: No, but I wish this were yesterday, although I didn't see the papers yesterday morning. Did you see the papers yesterday morning?
Reggie: No.
Gracie: I never see the papers, but they're nice to talk about.
Reggie: Yes, they're so true to life.
Gracie: Oh, aren't we all?
Say Goodnight Gracie...
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