This book examines stereotypical traits of women as they are reflected in Anglo-American anti-proverbs, also known as proverb transformations, deliberate proverb innovations, alterations, parodies, variations, wisecracks, fractured proverbs, and proverb mutations. Through these sayings and witticisms the author delineates the image of women that these anti-proverbs reflect, her qualities, attributes and behavior. The book begins with an analysis of how women’s role in the family, their sexuality and traditional occupations are presented in proverbs, and presents an overview of the genre of the anti-proverb. The author then analyses how this image of women is transformed in anti-proverbs, sometimes subverting, but often reinforcing the sexist bias of the original. This engaging work will appeal to students and scholars of humour studies, paremiology, gender studies, cultural studies, folklore and sociolinguistics alike.

“An elegant study of the nexus between social ethos, proverbs and humorous resistance, Anna T. Litovkina’s collection of modern Anglo-American anti-proverbs about women and gender roles shows how humour captures shifts in social power structures over time. It lays out a valuable road map for future studies in other cultures and illustrates the power of humorous challenge and inversion to subvert the proverbial wisdom of the ages.”(Jessica Milner Davis, University of Sydney, Australia)

"A must read on the representation of women in popular culture by a leading scholar in anti-proverbs." (Salvatore Attardo, Texas A&M University-Commerce, USA)

“Proverbially speaking, Anna T. Litovkina has broken the mold, has crashed through the glass ceiling, and has thought outside the box of traditional proverb collections of women with her collection and study of anti-proverbs about women. As such, it is an important book about stereotypical views of women couched in proverbial language.” (From the ‘Foreword’ by Wolfgang Mieder, University of Vermont, USA) “The study by Anna T. Litovkina is a unique resource for both humour and proverb scholars. It brings a wealth of examples of anti-proverbs about women rigorously grouped into categories that correspond to the diversity of Anglo-American cultural experience – not so much different as a whole from that of many other cultures, but still unique in its sheer variety and specificity. Reading the book – and there is no necessity to start from the beginning, just browse and get involved – one cannot but admire the creativity of the language and the people who so wonderfully turn it around. Besides, each anti-proverb is so much fun on its own, although many will be familiar to the reader. Still I am certain there is no other place you can find all of them together. And you will be all the better for the experience.”  (Władysław Chłopicki, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland)

 

Analyses different types of proverb alterations, and highlights common themes in relationship to women in Anglo-American proverb innovations Explores how women are seen in the corpus of Anglo-American anti-proverbs in their traditional societal roles (wife, mother, daughter, widow, mother-in-law, grandmother, etc.) Draws examples from hundreds of books and articles on puns, one-liners, quotations, aphorisms, maxims, quips, epigrams and graffiti

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