Wiktionary defines an antiproverb as: " A humorous adaptation of one or more existing proverbs."
There are many forms but a common one starts with one proverb, then switches in midstream to another. For example, the daftly incongruous
"Every dog has a silver lining"
Or the sardonic
"No news is the mother of invention."
Here are more examples from [1]
Don’t count your chickens in midstream You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t have it both ways. Too many cooks are better than one. An apple a day is worth two in the bush.
The word antiproverb was coined by Wolfgang Mieder and there is quite a literature about antiproverbs [2][3]. People who study proverbs are paremiologists, a word new to me but paremiology is in the OED and attested from 1861, derived from Latin paroemia, Greek παροιμία.
I thought I would try to generate some antiproverbs of my own, so I got a list of just under 1,000 proverbs and generated many random pairs, looking for good combinations. It turned out harder than I was expecting, but here are some that I feel show definite promise
An apple a day is better than no bread. Don't count your chickens while the sun shines. Many a true word is sauce for the gander. Don’t change horses till the fat lady sings. It’s an ill wind that never boils. It’s easy to be wise after a free lunch.
The Joy of Antiproverbs
Wiktionary defines an antiproverb as: " A humorous adaptation of one or more existing proverbs."
There are many forms but a common one starts with one proverb, then switches in midstream to another. For example, the daftly incongruous
"Every dog has a silver lining"
Or the sardonic
"No news is the mother of invention."
Here are more examples from [1]
Don’t count your chickens in midstream
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t have it both ways.
Too many cooks are better than one.
An apple a day is worth two in the bush.
The word antiproverb was coined by Wolfgang Mieder and there is quite a literature about antiproverbs [2][3]. People who study proverbs are paremiologists, a word new to me but paremiology is in the OED and attested from 1861, derived from Latin paroemia, Greek παροιμία.
I thought I would try to generate some antiproverbs of my own, so I got a list of just under 1,000 proverbs and generated many random pairs, looking for good combinations. It turned out harder than I was expecting, but here are some that I feel show definite promise
An apple a day is better than no bread.
Don't count your chickens while the sun shines.
Many a true word is sauce for the gander.
Don’t change horses till the fat lady sings.
It’s an ill wind that never boils.
It’s easy to be wise after a free lunch.
[1] https://wordsbybob.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/antiproverbs-say-what/
[2] https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.2478/9783110410167.15/html
[3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370487535_ENGLISH_ANTI-PROVERBS_AS_STYLISTIC_DEVICES