The Top 10: Inversions of Well-Known Phrases

Sayings in the wrong famous words of the order putting

Harold Macmillan, of whom Jeremy Thorpe said: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, than to lay down his friends for his life’ (Getty)

Thanks to Alan Robertson for suggesting this list. We have done a Top 10 Chiasmuses, such as “You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget”, which repeat and reverse a phrase, but these rely on the audience being familiar with the absent original.  

1. Trouble Over Bridgwater. Album by Half Man Half Biscuit. Opening nomination from Alan Robertson.  

2. “Greater love hath no man than this, than to lay down his friends for his life.” Jeremy Thorpe’s comment on Harold Macmillan’s brutal cabinet reshuffle of 1962. Thanks to David Crosbie.  

3. “Hollywood goes to Frankie.” The Acton Gazette headline when a cinema bar called Hollywood Greats became a club called Frankie’s. Thanks to Chris Condon.  

4. “The boy looked at Johnny, and said, ‘Don’t you know who I think I am?’” Rob Fuller is fond of The Libertines’ lyric. 

5. “There but for the God of Grace go I.” Roger Moore, when his stunt double Martin Grace was injured in a fight scene during the making of For Your Eyes Only. Nominated by David Crosbie.  

6. “The wrath of grapes.” Description of a hangover, which was the original title of Leonard Wibberley’s 1955 novel, The Mouse That Roared. Thanks to James Johns.  

7. Electric Landlady. Album by Kirsty MacColl, 1991, for those who got the reference to Electric Ladyland by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1968. Thanks to Chris Smith and Chris Condon.  

8. “Ah, but I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now.” Bob Dylan, “My Back Pages”. Nominated by Andrew Paterson.  

9. “Britannia waives the rules.” The joke dates back to 1842. See Language Log for the history. Thanks to Steven Fogel. 

10. Do Dice Play God? A 2019 book on the mathematics of uncertainty by Ian Stewart; thanks again to Alan Robertson.  

Dorothy Parker has a number of these attributed to her, including “I’m not a writer with a drinking problem, I’m a drinker with a writing problem,” and the one about a frontal lobotomy. Alcohol is a common theme, such as “I am not so think as you drunk I am”, from JC Squire’s “Ballade of Soporific Absorption” (thanks again to James Johns).  

Next week: Shocking falsehoods in historical dramas, inspired by the fuss over The Crown.  

Coming soon: Epanadiplosis – sentences that begin and end with the same word, such as: “Nice to see you, to see you nice!”

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk