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This paper discusses how Russian anti-proverbs function in modern speech and mass media. Today, as one consequence of the democratization of speech, the abolition of censorship, and the growing influence of youth speech, this genre of folklore has become very active, exerting significant influence on Russian standard language. Relying on the definitions of the term “anti-proverb” given by Wolfgang Mieder, the authors describe the characteristics and spheres of application of some of these expressions. In addition, the authors propose a classification of Russian anti-proverbs, demonstrate their different properties and applications, refer to their sources and describe prototypes of anti-proverbs and antidictums. Moreover, the authors attempt to propose a sociolinguistic characterization of anti-proverbs, such as “Old — New”, “Traditional — Untraditional”, “Neutral — Ironical” etc., as well as a complex lexicographical description of anti-proverbs.
Proverbs have never been considered sacrosanct; on the contrary, they have frequently been used as satirical, ironic or humorous comments on a given situation. Wolfgang Mieder has coined the term “Antisprichwort” (anti-proverb) for such deliberate proverb innovations (also known as alterations, mutations, parodies, transformations, variations, wisecracks, fractured proverbs). The focus of this study is on different mechanisms of variation in Anglo-American, German, French, Russian and Hungarian anti-proverbs. The mechanisms discussed and exemplified in the study include replacing a single word, substituting two or more words, changing the second part of the proverb, adding new words, adding literal interpretations, repeating identical or phonetically similar words, mixing two or more proverbs, word-order reversal, rhyme, changing the first part of the proverb, and omission of words.
In this study we analyze the results of a sociolinguistic survey conducted in Hungary in 2004–2005, with the goal of exploring some popular views of the proverb and anti-proverb and their functions in contemporary Hungarian society. Using data collected from 298 subjects, we focus on three major questions. First, our aim was to establish the lists of the proverbs most frequently used nowadays, as well as the ones most popular for variation. Our second goal was to discover our subjects’ thoughts about the use of proverbs and anti-proverbs, as well as about their views of the people who use them. And, last but not least, our third task was to compare what people say about their own usage of proverbs and anti-proverbs to what they think about the ways in which other people use these expressions.The complex analysis of the results of the survey can illumine interesting aspects; for example, the correlation between the subject’s gender and age and the use of proverbs and anti-proverbs. We also have to deal with the contradictions of folk concepts concerning this topic: there is a significant contrast between the ways in which subjects describe their own habits and the ways in which they talk about other people’s use of proverbs and anti-proverbs.
While a number of anti-proverb collections as well as linguistic studies of such proverb parodies have appeared in several languages during the past twenty-five years, they have for the most part ignored the folkloristic importance of anti-proverbs as the source of new folk proverbs. There is no doubt that most anti-proverbs are one-day-wonders in that they will never enter general folk speech by gaining a certain currency and traditionality. However, there are at least some anti-proverbs that do express new wisdom and which have by now been accepted as innovatively expressed wisdom based on traditional proverbial structures. All of this is taking place in the vast area of the mass media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the Internet), enabling such newly discovered wisdom to reach thousands of people who in turn use these texts to such a degree that they can be considered to be new proverbs. It behooves paremiologists to study these new proverbs, and paremiographers should definitely include these proverbs in their revised or new proverb collections. Proverb scholarship throughout the world will not advance if scholars do not pay proper attention to the proverbial lore of modernity, with anti-proverbs at least in part being important sources for such new proverbs.
In this study we analyze the results of a sociolinguistic survey conducted in Hungary in 2005–2006. The main purpose of this study was to employ the methods of correlational and quantitative sociolinguistics to assess how age, sex and education influence appreciation of humor in anti-proverbs (also known as alterations, parodies, transformations, variations, wisecracks). Each participant in the survey received a list consisting of 41 Hungarian anti-proverbs. The task of respondents was to read the antiproverbs and indicate their rate of funniness on a scale of 0 to 10.This paper focuses on three major questions. First, how do sex, age and education influence the overall scores of evaluation of funniness? The second goal was to consider differences in humor evaluation by sex, age and education with respect to some thematic categories treated in the anti-proverbs, including sexuality, obscenity, men, women, and modern technology. Our third aim was to establish the lists of the anti-proverbs which got the highest and lowest scores of funniness from the subjects as a group, as well as from respondents representing different subgroups: those who belonged to different age cohorts, genders, and those with different levels of education. We began our research with seven hypotheses generated by previous humor studies; the results of our study confirmed five of the hypotheses and disconfirmed one; the remaining hypothesis was neither confirmed nor disconfirmed.
This study deals with a field that has not yet been much explored: mixed (contaminated) French proverbs, i. e., anti-proverbs containing more than one phraseological unit (of which at least one must be a proverb or a proverb pattern). Using a corpus of 70 French compound proverbs, the analysis has been done on the basis of
- the number of original phraseological units in the compound (up to 7) the nature of the phraseological units contained in the compound proverb (proverb, proverbial expression, proverb pattern) the linkage between the units (are they isolated from, or embedded in, each other?) the familiarity of the original units used for the mixing topics (sexuality, women, drinking) stylistic labels (colloquial, vulgar) the integrity of the units to be found in the compound proverb (Is the first/second part of the first/second unit present in the compound? If it is, does it appear in an unmodified or a modified form?) the distribution of original units and parts of units to make up a compound compound patterns common points in original units twins (compounds made up of the same original units)
To fill a gap in paremiology, this study, based on a 100-item corpus, deals with French anti-proverbs about food and drink (both being important subjects in France). The paper begins with a discussion of the difficulties involved in distinguishing proverb variants from anti-proverbs and then proceeds to describe those characteristics shared by the proverbs and anti-proverbs on these subjects: there are twice as many expressions about food as about drink and five times as many about alcohol as about soft drinks; furthermore, proverbs and anti-proverbs possess a similar distribution of usage labels and similar pairs of antonymic utterances. But there are notable ways in which the proverbs differ from the anti-proverbs: while proverbs tend to discourage excess, anti-proverbs celebrate it; and while proverbs focus on wine, anti-proverbs mention mainly beer.Anti-proverbs about food and drink are a characteristic part of the French anti-proverbial stock, sharing several peculiarities with the genre as a whole (e.g., including the proportion of compound proverbs in both corpuses, as well as the proportion of items that are most frequently used).
On the basis of French, Hungarian, English, German and Russian corpora of anti-proverbs (deliberate proverb innovations, also known as alterations, mutations, parodies, transformations, variations, wisecracks, and fractured proverbs), we examine word play based on polysemy, homonymy, and homophony. After a survey of the proverbs most frequently used for these types of alteration, this study investigates anti-proverbs linked to the theme of sexuality. Finally, we explore the use of proper nouns in proverb transformations based on polysemy, homonymy, and homophony.
Paronomasia is a popular form of wordplay often used to transform proverbs into antiproverbs (deliberate proverb innovations, also known as alterations, mutations, parodies, transformations, variations, wisecracks, and fractured proverbs) by replacing certain phonemes with similar ones, or by adding or omitting phonemes. The present paper describes and exemplifies this sort of pun by using selected German, Hungarian, English, French and Russian language data. The first part of the paper focuses on the linguistic aspects of paronomasia; the second part stresses semantic characteristics. This study also examines the role of wordplay on the theme of sexuality, and then comments on the use of proper nouns in proverb transformations. We conclude that all five of the languages in our research corpus use similar, if not identical, approaches to forge a “twisted wisdom” out of a simple proverb.
This article examines one style of anti-proverb, the wellerism. It focuses on European (including Celtic) and North American data. It quantifies the frequency of wellerisms among anti-proverbs nowadays. It details which proverbs are used in wellerisms, and the common changes that they undergo. It also theorises about the processes that may occur after a proverb has been part of a wellerism. Based on examples collected by others it sets out the proverbs that occur in both wellerisms and other forms of anti-proverb, and points up that some proverbs become wellerisms but no other kind of anti-proverb. The article exemplifies wellerisms displaying the same proverb but different endings and the less common phenomenon, wellerisms created by different proverbs with the same ending. Indexing of wellerisms is discussed. Ireland is given as an example of how intensive searching can increase the stock of international wellerisms. The oral nature of the wellerism is highlighted and how this particular style of anti-proverb is unlikely to be used in advertising. The final point is about context and how it indicates that the purpose of constructing a wellerism on a proverb is to reinvent the proverb and ensure that its message is perpetuated.
