FLIPPING OUT

The Endpapers column on flipped-over sayings, “The Proverbial Wisdom of Richard Poor” (Book Review, Feb. 5) was certainly thought-provoking. I found myself mentally wandering around picking up old saws and re-examining them. Many of the more explosive flipovers have already become hackneyed e.g. “Time wounds all heels!”

Some sayings would have no effervescence if the flipover were not contained in the saying itself, as in “Winners never quit: Quitters never win!” or “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog!” Or what about, “Clutching defeat from the jaws of victory”?

And, of course, with a new man in the White House, we should not forget George Bush’s flipover, “I can see the tunnel at the end of the light!”--whatever that means.

JOHN TOOMAY

CARLSBAD