Learn English – Is “Better never than late” the saying as popular as “Better late than never”

expressions

There was the following sentence in Maureen Dowd’s column in New York Times (September 1):

We all know Republicans prefer riches-to-riches sagas, and rounding up immigrants, if the parasitic scofflaws aren’t sensitive enough to self-deport. That’s why my heart swells to think of the herculean effort the G.O.P. put into pretending its heart bleeds.
Even if it’s been bleeding for only five days. Better never than late.

I can easily understand the meaning of ‘Better late than never,’ and I can easily find the definition of this phrase on online dictionaries.

For instance Cambridge Online Dictionary defines it as a saying ‘that is said when you think that it is better for someone or something to be late than never to arrive or to happen.’

I understand "Better never than late" is the antonym to "Better late than never," meaning it’s better not to be done (or non-existent) from the beginning, But I can’t find the entry of ‘Better never than late’ in any online dictionaries I’ve checked. Is this phrase as popular as ‘Better late than never’ as a proverb?

In what case can I use ‘Better never than late’ for an example other than G.O.P Presidential tickets’ compassionate mention on Hispanic immigrants in G.O.P. Convention?

Best Answer

You won't find this definition anywhere, because Maureen Dowd made it up. It's a play on words, a reversal of the familiar trope that is meant to be funny or to make you think. In this case it would seem to be rather sardonic, intended to mock the Republicans' new-found "compassion."

That said, I'm a bit puzzled myself because turning that particular trope around isn't exactly a deft attempt at humor. I think she means that it would be better not to have faked compassion at all than to come on it in this way at this time. But it is an awkward effort. I don't know Maureen Dowd's other writing, but after reading the entire article I believe she may be concerned more with slamming her target as hard as she can than with making people laugh.

Oh, well — not everyone can be Jon Stewart.

Further Reading

The inversion of a trope exhibited here is a familiar pattern known as a transpositional pun. Check the link for some other examples. Here's what the Wikipedia article says about their effectiveness:

[T]ranspositional puns are considered among the most difficult to create, and commonly the most challenging to comprehend, particularly for non-native speakers of the language in which they're given (most commonly English).

No wonder Oishi-san had trouble with this one. I myself am still having trouble with it. Unless all parts make complete sense when reversed, the inversion fails. For contrast, here's one (from the linked article) that does work:

Hangovers: the wrath of grapes. [Inversion of "the grapes of wrath," a line from Julia Ward Howe's "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" that Steinbeck used as the title of what was arguably his greatest novel.]

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