Easily misunderstood

There’s a new meme doing the rounds. It’s called the Online Date Murderer. And it’s hilarious. I’m not sure why… I think it’s the way the conclusion catches you by surprise – every time!

The fancy name for that is a paraprosdokian, which “is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to re-frame or re-interpret the first part. ”

Examples of paraprosdokians are:

• I want to die peacefully, like my grandfather, not screaming like the passengers in his car.
• The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s on the list.
• I could agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.
• Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
• I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
• Hospitality: making your guests feel like they’re at home, even if you wish they were.
• When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

Here’s a collection of my favourites!