Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You    by Dr. Mardy Grothe Hardcover, 128 pgs. The Penguin Group, 1999 Order from Amazon.com!

Editorial Reviews

When John F. Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," he wasn't just stirring the hearts of millions of young Americans, he was also engaging in a little-known form of wordplay called chiasmus. Dr. Mardy Grothe has plumbed the depths of this form for years and catalogued hundreds of examples from ancient times to the present, in Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You (title courtesy of Joey Adams). All it takes is a repeated statement with two elements transposed between them--e.g., fool and kiss--and you get a powerful, often humorous, rhetorical prop. Collected in chapters like "Chiasmus for Lovers" and "Chiastic Compliments and Insults," the wisdom of the ages shines in gems such as Cicero's "It is as difficult for the good to suspect evil as it is for the evil to suspect good." Even better is Grothe's running commentary on the form and its masters and the often-biting humor found in the classics, for instance Dr. Johnson's "Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good." Fortunately for us, the good doctor wasn't referring to Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You, which is as fun to read as a reference as it is to refer to a reader. --Rob Lightner

Author's Remarks

This is the first popular book ever published on the literary and rhetorical device known as chiasmus (ky-AZ-mus). If you aren't sure what chiasmus means, you have a lot of company. Most people--even the most sophisticated and literate people--don't. Chiasmus occurs when the order of words is reversed in parallel expressions. While you may not be familiar with the word, you're well acquainted with the phenomenon, for it shows up in thousands of famous sayings, like "Failing to plan is planning to fail," "Quitters never win and winners never quit," and "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Some of the most clever, thought-provoking, and memorable things ever said or written are examples, like JFK's famous "Ask not what your country can do for you" line and these other provocative examples:

"In the Halls of Justice, the only justice is in the halls." -- Lenny Bruce

"Is man one of God's blunders, or God one of man's blunders? -- Nietzsche

"Love makes time pass, time makes love pass." -- Italian Proverb

"The value of marriage is not that adults produce children, but that children produce adults." -- Peter De Vries

My goal is to bring chiasmus out of the closet of obscurity and move it into the world of popular parlance. If there's a precedent for what I'm trying to do, it's the word oxymoron. Fifty years ago, it was a rare word, known by only a small and select group of people. Today virtually all literate people know what it means. I want the same thing to happen with chiasmus.

I accidentally stumbled on the word nearly ten years ago and, ever since, my life has been dominated by chiasmus and the search for chiastic (that's the adjective) quotations. I now have over 10,000 chiastic quotes in my personal collection. I sometimes say, "I didn't just get into chiasmus, chiasmus also got into me."

If you're a word, language, or quotation lover, I think you will love this book. In it, you're going to find some of the most incredible quotes ever assembled--including hundreds I guarantee you've never seen before.

Once you begin using the word chiasmus in everyday discourse, you'll probably impress people with your erudition. And maybe you'll even put a few know-it-alls in their place as you toss out a quote they've never heard before and add innocently, "As you know, that's a particularly fine example of chiasmus."

A working knowledge of chiasmus can also add some special moments to your life, as you share your own chiastic creations--sometimes quite spontaneously--with others. Here are two recent examples from my life. I sent out an e-mail the other day inviting friends to a book publication party. When I had to type something in the subject line, the words came almost effortlessly:

"Celebrating a Book and Booking a Celebration."

And while having dinner with friends recently, someone asked me about my hopes for the book. I said, "Well, I've had a wealth of experience, so I guess I'm hoping this book will provide me with . . . I don't know . . . an experience of wealth." We all laughed heartily, and there were "oohs" and "aahs" from all around as people marveled at my extemporaneous chiastic reply.

Will this book provide me with an experience of wealth? Probably not. But I've had a ball putting the book together, and I think you'll have a ball reading it.