Russian reversal

English

Noun

Russian reversal (plural Russian reversals)

1. A type of joke that reverses the subject and object of an ordinary statement, claiming to describe the situation in Soviet Russia, e.g. "In Soviet Russia, television watches you!"
   • 2015, TJ Edmister, “Re: Interesting phraseology”, in sci.lang.japan (Usenet):

     Sounds like a Russian Reversal. "In Soviet Japan, life lives YOU!"

   • 2015, Danny Katch, Socialism . . . Seriously: A Brief Guide to Human Liberation, page 35:

     Decades ago comics like Yakov Smirnoff used to do “Russian Reversal” jokes: “In America you can always find a party! In Soviet Russia, party always finds you.”

   • 2016, Choi Chatterjee, Lisa A. Kirschenbaum, Deborah A. Field, Russia's Long Twentieth Century:

     Smirnoff's popularity has waned since its high point in the 1980s, but the Russian reversal enjoys a vibrant second act as an internet meme, and it has shaped an image of late Soviet life as harsh and impoverished […]