English has a lot of words.  It has words for things you may not necessarily think there would be words for – particularly when it comes to language itself.

But words are fun, right?  Of course they are!  So, I thought I’d do a series on obscure linguistic and rhetoric terms.  If one or more of them are new to you, then the next time you use a particular device, you’ll…realize that…it’s a thing?

Anyway, let’s get started.

/ˌæntɨməˈtæbəli/  |  AN-tih-meh-TAB-o-lee

Antimetabole is the reversal of a phrase when recast in a subsequent clause.  Sometimes used for poetic emphasis or humor, sometimes merely for reflection.  Think Yakov Smirnoff jokes.

Examples:

• In knowing that the slog hates you, so should you hate the slog.
• The slog lives to fail, and in doing so fails to live.

Antimetabole.  Use it.

Bene scribete.