Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

Starkist doesn't want tunas with good taste,
Starkist wants tuna that tastes good.

Ask not what your country can do for you,
Ask what you can do for your country.

These quotations, one piscatory and one profound, have an important element in common: a literary device known as chiasmus. Though the word may be uncommon, the concept it represents is familiar.

Chiasmus is the duplication of words in a phrase, but in reverse order, producing a sentence with two complementary halves, such as: say what you mean and mean what you say; eat to live, don't live to eat.

The noun chiasmus and the adjective chiastic derive from chi, the Greek word for X. This letter draws a figure that captures the concept. If you stack the phrase "eat to live" on top of its compliment "don't live to eat," an X traces the inversion of the key words of the two phrases.

Writers, philosophers, and politicians of every era have used chiasmus to provoke, educate and inspire. Curious about this literary device? Check out Dr. Mardy Grothe's splendid collection of chiastic quotations called never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you.

Radio Script > Chiasmus I