Most frequent types of alteration in Anglo-American, German, French, Russian and Hungarian anti-proverbs

Litovkina, Anna T. and Vargha, Katalin and Barta, Péter and Hrisztova-Gotthardt, Hrisztalina (2007) Most frequent types of alteration in Anglo-American, German, French, Russian and Hungarian anti-proverbs. Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, 52 (1). pp. 47-103. ISSN 1216-9803

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Abstract

Proverbs have never been considered sacrosanct; on the contrary, they have frequently been used as satirical, ironic or humorous comments on a given situation. Wolfgang Mieder has coined the term “Antisprichwort” (anti-proverb) for such deliberate proverb innovations (also known as alterations, mutations, parodies, transformations, variations, wisecracks, fractured proverbs). The focus of this study is on different mechanisms of variation in Anglo-American, German, French, Russian and Hungarian anti-proverbs. The mechanisms discussed and exemplified in the study include replacing a single word, substituting two or more words, changing the second part of the proverb, adding new words, adding literal interpretations, repeating identical or phonetically similar words, mixing two or more proverbs, word-order reversal, rhyme, changing the first part of the proverb, and omission of words.

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