# What is the name for the linguistic concept?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-the-linguistic-concept/336857>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 22, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-the-linguistic-concept/336857 "2005-12-22T20:40:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-the-linguistic-concept/336857/1 "2005-12-22T20:40:21Z")

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Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

What is right is not always popular, what is popular is not always right.

and in the negative;

We park in driveways, and drive in parkways.  
Is there a term for pairings of this type?

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**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-the-linguistic-concept/336857/2 "2005-12-22T21:32:36Z")

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Antimetabole.

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-the-linguistic-concept/336857/3 "2005-12-23T10:29:15Z")

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My suggestion: [Chiasmus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiasmus).

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**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-the-linguistic-concept/336857/4 "2005-12-23T11:41:39Z")

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No, not a chiasmus. Here’s a chiasmus:

The heavens are telling the glory of God;  
the wonder of his works displays the firmament.

subject-verb-object  
object-verb-subject

Note the third-person singular verb in the second sentence: it’s “the firmament displays the wonder of his works” as an echo of “the heavens are telling the glory of God”, but the sentence structure has been inverted for poetic effect. So there’s a structural “cross-over” between the two sentences.

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**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-the-linguistic-concept/336857/5 "2006-01-09T05:29:34Z")

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It is indeed Antimetabole.

I googled it… and the Abscense of Evidence came up.

Thanks gang

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-the-linguistic-concept/336857/6 "2006-01-09T06:36:34Z")

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> [@Malacandra](#):
>
> No, not a chiasmus. Here’s a chiasmus:
> 
> The heavens are telling the glory of God;  
> the wonder of his works displays the firmament.
> 
> subject-verb-object  
> object-verb-subject
> 
> Note the third-person singular verb in the second sentence: it’s “the firmament displays the wonder of his works” as an echo of “the heavens are telling the glory of God”, but the sentence structure has been inverted for poetic effect. So there’s a structural “cross-over” between the two sentences.

Actually, _wonder_ and _firmament_ are both nouns in the singular. Perhaps _the wonders of his works displays the firmament_ would work better as an example?