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#127349 - 04/13/04 02:59 PM litotes
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
Maybe I'm not the only one who keeps forgetting this.
Date: Sat Sep 25 00:01:37 EDT 1999
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--litotes
litotes (LI-tuh-teez, LIT-, li-TOH-teez) noun, plural litotes

A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an
affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite, as in This is
no small problem.

[Greek litotes, from litos, plain.]




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#127350 - 06/14/04 04:34 PM litotes
wofahulicodoc Offline
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Registered: 08/06/01
Posts: 3789
Loc: Worcester, MA
litotes

...the word I keep looking for and forgetting - an "opposite" of hyperbole, as it were. Which is no great problem, but is a recurring minor aggravation...


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#127351 - 06/15/04 05:53 AM Re: litotes
Faldage Offline
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Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13655
I can barely remember any of those rhetorical figure terms. I wish I knew a good source for looking them up from meaning. The Forest is good but I never seem to be able to work with their categories or they end up being at odds with other sources.

http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm


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#127352 - 06/15/04 10:22 AM Re: litotes
tsuwm Online confused
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Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10464
Loc: this too shall pass
here's a short list (of 45) of the more useful(?) terms, which has the benefit of being searchable.
http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/rhetoric.html


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#127353 - 06/15/04 12:11 PM Re: short list
Faldage Offline
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Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13655
Wall, that's fine if you know the word and want to know what it means. It's when you know what it means, but don't know the word that's got me bumfuzzled.


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#127354 - 06/15/04 01:31 PM Re: short list
tsuwm Online confused
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10464
Loc: this too shall pass
which is why I mentioned the searchable (i.e., via a page find) aspect, if you use some key words.


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