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.

Anna T. Litovkina is Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, János Selye University, Slovakia. She is the author of numerous articles and fifteen books on proverbs, including Old Proverbs Never Die, They Just Diversify: A Collection of Anti-Proverbs (with Wolfgang Mieder, 2006), and “Do You Serve Lawyers and Politicians Here?”: Stereotyped Lawyers and Politicians in Anglo-American Jokes and Anti-Proverbs (2016).