Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Subverted Rhyme Every Time

I'm a poet, and I was not aware of the fact!

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Lots of poems rhyme
This one doesn't

So... you're listening to a song, or are one of those crazy Planet Of Hats where everyone speaks in verse. A rhyming couplet is set up, but instead of delivering the completed rhyme as expected, the speaker takes it in a different, non-euphonic direction, either by speaking a different word, having it bleeped out, or being cut-off before completion.

This is most often used for comedy: generally, the rhyme set up and subverted was clearly supposed to be a profanity. It's one of the myriad gimmicks used for Getting Crap Past The Radar, and when used this way is known as a "Miss Susie", after one of the most famous examples. Sometimes in this case the cut-off word will appear in a different context as the first word of the next line (The steamboat went to - Hello operator.) The only way to get the worse Bawdy Songs on American network television.

A subtrope of Last Second Word Swap.