In a Manner of Speaking by McNairn Colin

Author:McNairn, Colin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2014-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

The amusing lines that are stenciled on T-shirts, to enhance their appeal, often take the form of perverted proverbs. “If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you” is one such line. The dire warning that it proclaims has got to be related, in some way, to the marketing pitch: “FOR SALE: Parachute, only used once, never opened, small stain,” which has also been incorporated into T-shirt designs.

The perverted proverbs applied to T-shirts may involve a Spoonerism, as in the Oscar Wilde quotation, “work is the curse of the drinking class,” derived from the proverb “drink is the curse of the working class.” Or they may involve a pun as in “two rights don’t make a wrong; they make an airplane.” They may also address contemporary issues such as computer capacity. That’s the subject of comment in the message, “a picture is worth a thousand words but it uses up a thousand times the memory,” a line that’s only likely to fit onto extra-large shirts.

Some of the messages on T-shirts purport to be much more personal, reflecting on the attributes or desires of the wearer. “If we are what we eat, I’m fast, cheap and easy” and “where there’s a will, I want to be in it” are two perverted proverbs that carry this kind of message. The second of these parodies is one of several humorous variations on “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Others include “where there’s a will, there’s relatives” and “where there’s a will, there’s lawyers.” All three variations exhibit the distinctive characteristic of a paraprosdokian, the term for a figure of speech involving a surprising change of direction in a sentence because of a word taking on a change of meaning. In each of the examples above, the word “will” in the initial clause suggests determination since that’s what it means in the identical initial clause of the familiar proverb “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” But the final clause assumes an alternate meaning of “will,” namely a testamentary instrument.

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