# Is there a linguistic term for this?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 7, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418 "2008-05-07T12:15:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Grathania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grathania)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/1 "2008-05-07T12:15:08Z")
E.g. You can take a girl out of a city but you can’t take the city out of the girl
“I don’t think that evolution is supremely important because it is my specialty; it is my specialty because I think evolution is supremely important”
---
### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/2 "2008-05-07T12:37:26Z")
Possibly an antimetabole:
> **[Antimetabole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimetabole)**
>
> In rhetoric, antimetabole (/æntɪməˈtæbəliː/ AN-ti-mə-TAB-ə-lee) is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order; for example, "I know what I like, and I like what I know". It is related to, and sometimes considered a special case of, chiasmus.
> An antimetabole can be predictive, because it is easy to reverse the terms. It may trigger deeper reflection than merely stating one half of the line.
> It is derived from the Greek ἀντιμεταβολή (antimetabolḗ), from ἀντί (antí, 'ag...
---
### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2008, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/3 "2008-05-07T14:02:47Z")
I call it the [“Camisado Effect”](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=can%27t+take+the+kid+from+the+fight+camisado+lyrics).
---
### Author:  [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/4 "2008-05-07T22:02:03Z")
It’s called Chiasmus.
---
### Author:  [@Grathania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grathania)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/5 "2008-05-08T02:02:10Z")
Or, one of my personal faves:
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
---
### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2008, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/6 "2008-05-08T08:03:45Z")
ianzin, according to the Wikipedia entry for chiasmus, although some people refer to structures like the one in the OP as chiasmus, other people think that it’s more correct to refer to them as antimetabole:
> **[Chiasmus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiasmus)**
>
> In rhetoric, chiasmus (/kaɪˈæzməs/ ky-AZ-məs) or, less commonly, chiasm (Latin term from Greek χίασμα, "crossing", from the Greek χιάζω, chiázō, "to shape like the letter Χ"), is a "reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses – but no repetition of words".
> A similar device, antimetabole, also involves a reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses in an A-B-B-A configuration, but unlike chiasmus, presents a repetition of words.
> Chiasmus balances ...
---
### Author:  [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2008, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/7 "2008-05-08T09:23:21Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic]
I call it the [“Camisado Effect”](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=can%27t+take+the+kid+from+the+fight+camisado+lyrics).
[/QUOTE]
In Soviet Russia, Camisado effects YOU.
---
### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2008, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/8 "2008-05-08T10:58:40Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner]
ianzin, according to the Wikipedia entry for chiasmus, although some people refer to structures like the one in the OP as chiasmus, other people think that it’s more correct to refer to them as antimetabole:
> **[Chiasmus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiasmus)**
>
> In rhetoric, chiasmus (/kaɪˈæzməs/ ky-AZ-məs) or, less commonly,\[citation needed\] chiasm (Latin term from Greek χίασμα chiásma, "crossing", from the Greek χιάζω, chiázō, "to shape like the letter Χ"), is a "reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses – but no repetition of words".
> A similar device, antimetabole, also involves a reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses in an A-B-B-A configuration, but unlike chiasmus, presents a repetition of w...
[/QUOTE]
Isn’t antimetabole really just a subset of chiasmus, though?
---
### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/9 "2008-05-08T13:46:30Z")
It depends on how you define the terms. Read the two entries from Wikipedia that I quoted. Some people define “chiasmus” specifically to exclude antimetaboles, some people define it to include them. Do we really want to get into an argument about which definition is correct? Unless you have information that Wikipedia is clearly wrong, I have nothing more to say.
---
### Author:  [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/10 "2008-05-08T14:13:43Z")
Good call, **Wendell**. I know more than I did before!
---
### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-linguistic-term-for-this/448418/11 "2008-05-08T14:31:21Z")
“Antimetabole” is a pretty nifty word, at any rate. Trips off the tongue better than “chiasmus”, which sounds rather too much like a gynaecological complaint.