# What's the word for... (part II) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726 "2011-07-12T10:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/1 "2011-07-12T10:15:42Z")
So my sister just asked me about the English word for “changing a quote around a li’l bit.” Her two examples were “to eat or not to eat” and “and on the seventh day… she had a doughnut.” I was going to say “paraphrase”, but she pointed out that that’s more in line with “restating a quote with your own words.” I went “meh, just call it ‘tweaking’ and you’ll be alright,” but she insists she needs _le mot juste_, as it were. “To the Dope-mobile!”, I yelled, and here I am. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/2 "2011-07-12T11:35:39Z")
Sounds like a deliberate malapropism. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/3 "2011-07-12T12:12:05Z")
“Turn of a phrase”? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/4 "2011-07-12T12:33:15Z")
Not a paraphrase, because the meaning is not essentially the same as the original. Not a malapropism, because the word choice is not only deliberate, but meaningful as stated. I think the term **Steken** ’s sister wants, at least for examples more like the second one, is “paraprosdokians.” ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/5 "2011-07-12T14:02:41Z")
Sort of like mixing metaphors? “I was misquoted” I’ve occasionally heard used “to coin a phrase” when rearranging a famous quote. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/6 "2011-07-12T14:08:22Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Not a paraphrase, because the meaning is not essentially the same as the original. > > Not a malapropism, because the word choice is not only deliberate, but meaningful as stated. > > I think the term **Steken** ’s sister wants, at least for examples more like the second one, is “ **paraprosdokians**.” No, that sounds like the family who owns the Armenian deli downtown. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/7 "2011-07-12T15:03:24Z")
I think what she is trying to do is take an “artistic or literary license” with those pieces of known works. Albeit, pretty poor ones at that. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/8 "2011-07-12T17:16:28Z")
Or “rephrasing” it. Although that sounds like it could be paraphrasing too. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/9 "2011-07-12T18:39:19Z")
I would have called this an allusion, though your sister’s second example (“and on the seventh day… she had a doughnut”) is probably closer to [a paraproskodian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian). As for the first (“to eat or not to eat”), according to Wikip., [“snowclone”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone) is the term for a well-known quote that provides a skeleton for cliched substitution. The best example is Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be”, where a speaker will humorously subsitute some other verb for be"; it’s done often enough that the substitution itself is a cliche. I’d also guess that for the SDMB, the tired Yakoff Smirnof reversal [“In Soviet Russia, X Y('s) you.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_reversal#Russian_reversal) is the most popular example:-) ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/10 "2011-07-12T19:54:15Z")
[Smirnov]In Soviet Russia, the phrase coins you![/Smirnov] ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/11 "2011-07-12T22:41:32Z")
“Quote the raven, ‘Nevermind…’” – (courtesy of a retired English teacher buddy from Alabama) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-part-ii/588726/12 "2011-07-13T02:25:15Z")
n/m answered already