A Good Blog is Great, but a Great Blog is Good

It isn't so much that people switch words around to make their thoughts seem somehow more deep and thought-provoking. It's that thoughts seem somehow more deep and thought-provoking when people switch words around.

It's something I've been noticing more and more lately. Perhaps it's because, on occasion, I am flipping through my very few antenna-grabbed channels (yeah, when everything goes digital I will have no TV access--GASP!) and I stop on some preacher trying to convince his audience to "plant a seed" of cash in his church that will, he says, miraculously come back to them tenfold. He goes on to say, "You may feel reluctant to plant a seed. You may feel like you're waiting for some sign from Jesus. But guess what my friends? You're not waiting for Jesus. Jesus is waiting for YOU!" And the crowd goes wild. Hands shoot into the air, shouts of "Hallelujah!" and "Oh Lord!" fill the air, feet start stampin', hands start clappin', and the preacher starts smilin'.

It wasn't such a profound statement, but its degree of meaningfulness was multiplied by the fact that he did the ol' switcheroo. By switching who was waiting for whom, all of a sudden it sounds like an aphorism.

Not that this is anything new. The most famous instance is probably from John Kennedy's inaugural address when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

In my school's hallway, we have a poster that says, "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."

It got me thinking--does it always work? Does the flipping around of words stir some primeval deepness of thought receptor? And so I come up with some examples in my head, ridiculous examples that were, objectively, nonsense, but the nonsensical becomes dramatic.

For example:

"Ask not if we're having pancakes for breakfast. Ask if for breakfast we're having pancakes."

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Or some others:

"It's difficult to be polite, but it's more polite to be difficult."

"Teaching 8th graders might be a challenging job, but it's more of a job challenging 8th graders."

"You might see clothes all over my floor. But I see the floor all over my clothes."

See, it works!

Make up some of your own and post them in the comments section.