Chantable Couplets

By Xah Lee. Date:

Here's a list of chantable couplets. The closest technical name to describe them, is “prototypical usage”.

Sir Richard Burton's Arabian Nights

The following are from Sir Richard Burton's Arabian Nights.



The following are more like idioms.


The following are supplied by Troy Steadman (from alt.english.usage)

Thanks to Troy Steadman and Pat Durkin for contribution.

If you know anymore, please write to me. Criterion: it must be two words connected by And or Or, and in a way recognizable almost as a idiom.

The 2 words often have similar meaning, used together more for its chantable quality. (e.g. cease and desist, tear and wear, wiles and strategems) Or, the 2 words often are opposites, used to denote a situation that's one or the other, often uncritically. (e.g. nature or nurture, fight or flight, art or science, publish or perish)

See also: Chantable phraseology (essay)

2005