Questions tagged [litotes]
The litotes tag has no usage guidance.
12
questions
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1answer
82 views
discount all improbabilities = make probable? [closed]
Mr. Graham Hancock in his book "The Mars Mystery" quotes Hoyle, "Origin of Universe"
I saw that the answer to this question lies in what is now called the anthropic principle, which says that the ...
2
votes
1answer
461 views
Does litotes need to be negative?
For example, are the following examples of litotes:
Ariel (The Tempest): ‘The powers, delaying, not forgetting’
(Stresses a past injustice being remembered)
Adam (Paradise Lost): ‘nothing ...
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2answers
1k views
Are both “You can do no worse than” and “You can do worse than” accepted?
I came across "You can do no worse than" in the following article:
You can do no worse than follow the regular updates that ESA astronaut
Luca Parmitano is posting in his blog as he conducts his ...
5
votes
1answer
302 views
Are litotes more common in Australian English?
Are litotes more common in Australian English, especially colloquial speech, compared to other dialects of English such as American English?
I could find on ELU a comment stating that this is the ...
0
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4answers
685 views
It's not ___, but it's not not ___ either
Are there general modifiers for adjectives that indicate a gray area between the adjective and its negative?
E.g., "Plywood isn't wooden, but it isn't not-wooden either. Therefore, plywood is ____ly ...
2
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1answer
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Litotes: Always for Emphasis? Used for Non-committal Hedging? Any Authoritative Source?
My question is about litotes. I’m wondering if it is always for emphasis, or whether it can be a type of non-committal statement or hedging. And, is there an authoritative source that can be cited ...
5
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3answers
2k views
Double negation and litotes
A friend of mine who's a native English speaker corrected me the other day. I said something like "it's not something no-one has done before". He told me about the rule that states that double ...
5
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7answers
5k views
Euphemism for “non-useful”
I was just about to tell someone how something "wouldn't really be much useful" if they leave it the way it is — which is like a much more polite version of useless, but I just couldn't find the word. ...
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5answers
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“Not once he would” vs. “not once would he”
Not being a native speaker and suffering semantic satiation from overthinking this, I'd like to ask this probably overly simple question.
Not once would he...
uses reversal for negation and means "...
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4answers
1k views
Can you negate a positive without implying the opposite?
I often stumble over the fact that in English, apparently, we imply the reverse when we negate a positive. For example,
That wasn't very good. [⇒ That was bad.]
That wasn't bad. [⇒ That was good.]...
3
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4answers
4k views
Usage and example of the word “litotes”
I've come across the word litotes, which means a rhetorical understatement. However, I’m having trouble understanding how to use it in colloquial English. Could someone please give an example?
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4answers
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Are “not uncommon” and similar phrases double negatives? Should their use be avoided?
When I think of double negatives I think of phrases that grate on the ears, like:
I'm not going to do no homework.
I'm never going to not go visit Graceland.
There are some phrases that ...
