This is a figure of speech in which the natural order of events is reversed. It occurs in well known phrases such as ‘born and bred’ ‘put on your shoes and socks’ and ‘thunder and lightning’.

Be careful of accidental hysteron proteron in your writing, for example ‘Fred jumped in the air. A loud crash from the dropped tray of glasses had startled him.’ Unless you have a good reason for doing things differently, cause should come before result.

Can you think of other examples of hysteron proteron?