litotes

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KatyBr
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litotes

Postby KatyBr » Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:48 pm

litotes - understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary); "saying `I was not a little upset' when you mean `I was very upset' is an example of litotes"
meiosis
understatement - a statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said
rhetorical device - a use of language that creates a literary effect (but often without regard for literal significance)
www.freedictionary.com/
litotes
noun

1. rhetoric.
Understatement used for effect, especially by negating the opposite, as in not a little angry meaning furious. Also called meiosis. Compare hyperbole.
Etymology: 17c: Greek, meaning ‘small'.



from www.allwords.com
to damn with faint praise, too

kt

Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:10 pm

This is one of the most commonly mispronounced words. It's actually LIE-tuh-teez.

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

Garzo
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Postby Garzo » Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:54 pm

I once taught Spanish students English. Teaching litotes was one of the hardest jobs (beside bowels!). I remember paedagogically castigating a student with "We do not say 'What a beautiful day' in English: we say 'What a nice day'"!

How do you like them light oats?

-- Garzo.
"Poetry is that which gets lost in translation" — Robert Frost

tcward
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Postby tcward » Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:05 pm

Of course the first phrase to come to my mind was Curly's famous opening solo from Oklahoma:
Oh, what a beautiful mornin'!
Oh, what a beautiful day!
I've got a beautiful feelin'
everything's goin' my way.
Or at least that's what I remember from it...

Garzo, were you serious? Would you really not say "what a beautiful day" in England?

-Tim

KatyBr
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Postby KatyBr » Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:16 pm

I once taught Spanish students English. Teaching litotes was one of the hardest jobs (beside bowels!). I remember paedagogically castigating a student with "We do not say 'What a beautiful day' in English: we say 'What a nice day'"!

How do you like them light oats?

-- Garzo.
oh my yes, we musn't be too effusive, British reserve and all that.

kt

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:36 am

It's a Beautiful Morning by the [now not so] Young Rascals.

And for Tim, I can remember these lines from an old Mad Magazine parody:
"There's a bright golden glaze on the egg roll,
There's a bright golden glaze on the egg roll.
The hot egg foo young really tickles the tongue . . . "
"And alas, this is all that I can remember.
Oh, what a glorious . . . " :(
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

KatyBr
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Postby KatyBr » Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:40 am

I once taught Spanish students English. Teaching litotes was one of the hardest jobs (beside bowels!).
-- Garzo.
I;m interested in why and how he taught about bowels.

kt

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:47 am

I once taught Spanish students English. Teaching litotes was one of the hardest jobs (beside bowels!).
-- Garzo.
I;m interested in why and how he taught about bowels.

kt
Obviously it was a very moving lecture . . .
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

tcward
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Postby tcward » Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:20 pm

I once taught Spanish students English. Teaching litotes was one of the hardest jobs (beside bowels!).
-- Garzo.
I;m interested in why and how he taught about bowels.

kt
Obviously it was a very moving lecture . . .
I say we flush out the answers. We must get to the bottom of this!

-Tim :P

KatyBr
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Postby KatyBr » Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:45 pm

As always, Tim you have a wonderful grasp of light oats, and get right to the heart of the matter.

kt

M. Henri Day
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Re: litotes

Postby M. Henri Day » Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:26 pm

...
litotes
noun

1. rhetoric.
Understatement used for effect, especially by negating the opposite, as in not a little angry meaning furious. Also called meiosis. ...
...
And I thought biology was tough enough, what with, shades of John Scopes, certain old controversies having newly become topical («deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra said), but this takes the cake ! Or am I being hyperbolic, rather than meiotic ?...

Henri
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?


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