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LITOTES

Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 2:14 am
by Dr. Goodword
• litotes •

Pronunciation: li-tê-teez or lay-to-teez • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A figure of speech that is a negative understatement to emphasize the opposite, as an investment that is not without risk.

Notes: Today's Good Word does not change in the plural: many litotes. An expression that uses litotes is litotic and, yes, you may speak litotically. Litotes is the opposite of hyperbole, rhetorical exaggeration. It is one side of an interesting characteristic of language: the negation of an opposite is more positive than the negation of the positive itself. For example, in the series, (1) good, (2) not bad, (3) not good, (4) bad, notice that not good, implies WORSE than "not bad". In fact, not bad means rather good and not good means rather bad!

In Play: Litotes is often used to soften the blow of an uncomfortable truth, as when your friend says that your blind date is "not unattractive". So, he is not attractive but that is better than "not attractive". Litotes can also reflect an ironic emphasis in reverse: "While I wasn't looking forward to the reception, the people there made it not at all unpleasant." Of course, the classic example of litotes is Queen Victoria's remark, "We are not amused." Not too shabby an example of litotes, eh?

Word History: Today's Good Word was taken pretty much 'as is' from Greek litotes "simplicity", the noun from litos "smooth, plain, simple". The Greek root is based on PIE *(s)lei- "flat, slippery" which also is behind Latin limos "slime". That is also probably it there in linere "to anoint", the root of English liniment. In the Germanic languages this root picked up an [s], so we get English slime, slick, slice, and slip. However, we find that [s] in other languages, too: Old Irish sleman "smooth" and Latvian slieka "earthworm". (Today we would like to thank Good Word subscriber Lew Jury for suggesting a term that is not at all uninteresting.)

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:37 pm
by M. Henri Day
Inte illa !

Henri

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 6:20 pm
by tcward
Aunt Eller??

Image

-Tim ;)

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:59 pm
by M. Henri Day
As for me, I'm all for gun-control (surprise, surprise !)....

Henri

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:53 pm
by tcward
As long as I have the right to bare puns, I'm happy.

-Tim

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:12 pm
by Stargzer
As for me, I'm all for gun-control (surprise, surprise !)....

Henri
Gun control means being able to put most of your rounds in the bulls-eye, Henri.

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:13 pm
by Stargzer
As long as I have the right to bare puns, I'm happy.

-Tim
PETA is worried about their right to arm bears . . .

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:35 pm
by M. Henri Day
From what I know of bears, they're pretty powerfully armed already, PETA or no PETA. No se meta conmigo....

Henri

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 10:08 pm
by Brazilian dude
No se meta conmigo, hahahahahaha.

But if you want it to sound even more threatening, say No te metas conmigo.

Brazilian dude

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 1:43 pm
by M. Henri Day
No matter which alternative a bear were to choose with me, BD, I'd consider it more than sufficiently threatening ! But thanks for the pointer !...

Henri

PS : How does it go in Portuguese ?...

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 1:47 pm
by Brazilian dude
Não se meta comigo/Não te metas comigo. In Portugal they spell it conmigo, like in Spanish.

Brazilian dude

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 2:04 pm
by M. Henri Day
Thanks, BD ! I'll try to recognise the phrase if I ever meet an aggressive Portuguese/Brazilian bear !...

Henri

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 2:21 pm
by Brazilian dude
There are some interesting expletives you can defend yourself with, which, for the sake of discretion, I'll PM to you on demand.

Brazilian dude