chiasmic!

[Pafra & Scott Catledge]

I have since forgotten although I recognized it at the time.  From whom did
JFK's speechwriter plagiarize that line that JFK delivered so well.
----- Original Message -----
From: A. Vine <avine at ENG.SUN.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 1999 8:11 PM
Subject: chiasmic!


> Thought folks on this list would enjoy this particular AWAD - Andrea
>
>
> chiasmus (ki-AZ-muhs) noun
>
>    A rhetorical inversion of the second of two parallel structures.
>
> [New Latin, from Greek khiasmos, syntactic inversion, from khiazein, to
> invert or mark with an X.]
>
>    "As a literary and rhetorical device, chiasmus has woven itself into
the
>    fabric of human life. The greatest speeches of all time would be weaker
>    without chiasmus. What other words could JFK have used to rival his
>    famous `Ask not what your country can do for you' line."
>    Grothe, Dr. Mardy, Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you,
Viking,
>    1999.
>
> I've taken the citation for today's word from a new book "Never let a fool
> kiss you or a kiss fool you," a delightful collection of chiasmi compiled
> by Dr. Mardy Grothe. Grothe is clearly a man taken by his passion as he
> confesses, "I didn't just get into chiasmus, chiasmus also got into me."
> About his experience compiling the book and his expectations from it, he
> notes, "I've had a wealth of experience, so I guess I'm hoping this book
> will provide me with ... an experience of wealth. The book is a veritable
> mine of chiasmi with such gems as,
>
>    It may be compared to a cage
>    the birds without try desperately to get in,
>    and those within try desperately to get out.
>    -Michel de Montaigne, on marriage
>
>    It is not my interest to pay the principal
>    nor is it my principle to pay the interest
>    -Richard Brinsely Sheridan, to a lender
>
> Even better are implied chiasmus such as,
>
>    Time's fun when you're having flies.
>    -Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson)
>
> For more chiastic pleasure, visit http://chiasmus.com/ . Would you like to
> share the fun of words and words of fun? Craft an original chiasmus and
> email it to anu at wordsmith.org. I'll feature selected chiasmi here next
week.
> And for the rest of this week, we'll see some other words about
words. -Anu
>
>
...........................................................................
> A fool always finds some greater fool to admire him. -Nicholas
> Boileau-Despreaux, French poet (1636-1711)
>
> Looking for a word or quotation previously featured in AWAD? They are all
> archived at http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html . For the theme
list,
> see http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/themes.html . Alphabetical listing of
the
> words is available at http://wordsmith.org/awad/wordlist.html
>
> Pronunciation:
> http://www.wordsmith.org/words/chiasmus.wav
> http://www.wordsmith.org/words/chiasmus.ram