The Everlasting Gobstopper Toner
About 9 months ago, my laser printer's low toner light started blinking. So I bought a new cartridge about 6 months ago.
Well, many hundred pages later, I am still waiting for the toner to run out. Not that I am complaining (although ... I cannot remember where I put that new toner cartridge when this one eventually does run dry).
Today's word is chiastic.
I came across is while reading Writing Life: Celebrated Canadian and International Authors on Writing and Life.
You can get more than you ever hoped for on this word here - an entire website devoted to chiasmi (as the website cautions: The plural is chiasmi. However, saying chiasmi can come across as pretentious, so you'll want to do that rarely.).
Image gently borrowed from here.
Well, many hundred pages later, I am still waiting for the toner to run out. Not that I am complaining (although ... I cannot remember where I put that new toner cartridge when this one eventually does run dry).
Today's word is chiastic.chiasmus [ky-AZ-mus] (plural -mi), a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second. This may involve a repetition of the same words ("Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure" --Byron) or just a reversed parallel between two corresponding pairs of ideas . . . . The figure is especially common in 18th century English poetry, but is also found in prose of all periods. It is named after the Greek letter chi (x), indicating a "criss-cross" arrangement of terms. Adjective: chiastic. - The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms I came across is while reading Writing Life: Celebrated Canadian and International Authors on Writing and Life.
You can get more than you ever hoped for on this word here - an entire website devoted to chiasmi (as the website cautions: The plural is chiasmi. However, saying chiasmi can come across as pretentious, so you'll want to do that rarely.).
Image gently borrowed from here.
Comments
I like today's word. A chiasums can be a great use of language and when overdone/forced, can also be very annoying! :) I peeked briefly at the site link you provided and this example of sound reversal is probably my favorite:
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me
Than a frontal lobotomy."
-- Randy Hanzlick, title of song
Okay, not really my favorite but something tells me this has to be a country song! Haha. Sorry, I think I'm beyond tired today!
I wonder why it didn't get covered in high school when we did things like onomatopeia, alliteration and palindromes?
It is not my first laser printer, but I wasn't sure how soon the empty light came on before the cartridge was truly empty. Normally I just waited until I printed a page and streaks of text were missing.
i just know it right now.
i never know that it has been called chiasmus.
thanks to you.
kaymac: I hope you daughter gets a kick out of it or at least of knowing there is an official name for this type of word play.
Thanks. I really enjoyed learning about this word today.