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litotes

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:48 pm
by KatyBr
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

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:10 pm
by Brazilian dude
This is one of the most commonly mispronounced words. It's actually LIE-tuh-teez.

Brazilian dude

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:54 pm
by Garzo
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.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:05 pm
by tcward
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

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:16 pm
by KatyBr
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

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:36 am
by Stargzer
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 . . . " :(

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:40 am
by KatyBr
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

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:47 am
by Stargzer
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 . . .

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:20 pm
by tcward
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

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:45 pm
by KatyBr
As always, Tim you have a wonderful grasp of light oats, and get right to the heart of the matter.

kt

Re: litotes

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:26 pm
by M. Henri Day
...
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