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stranger
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Hi! I cannot find this word in the archives, but I know it was part of Word-A-Day in the past 2-3 years. A very loose definition would be "Bringing notice to a topic or issue by stating that you are going to ignore it." Such as, "We're not going to talk today about the fact that the company has nearly gone bankrupt during his tenure." Or, "I'm not going to mention the dishonesty and deceitfulness of the other candidate."
I've been trying to find this word for six months now. Can anyone help?!?!
Thank you!
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Carpal Tunnel
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apophasis a figure of speech which alludes to something specific by denying that it will be mentioned (e.g., "I won't mention the fact that Representative Smith has been supporting three children from adulterous relationships.") [compare paraleipsis]
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Seriously tsuwm, I am in awe, and admiration, of your memory.
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stranger
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Wow! Thanks Joe for the immediate reply. You are really good. I've looked it up now and am a bit confused between usage of apophasis and paralipsis. Any thoughts on the difference?
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Carpal Tunnel
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According to Silva Rhetoricae apophasis is the rejecting of several reasons for doing or not doing something and choosing only one. The word you're looking for really is paralipsis.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have paraleipsis as:
a figure of speech which implies something more serious by deliberately concise treatment (also written as paralepsis) (e.g. "I don't have time to mention Representative Jones's other faults.") [compare apophasis]
now I'll have to re-research them to see if I might have reversed them..
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I don't think anybody really understands these tropes..
M-W has paraleipsis:
[from Greek paraleipsis neglect, omission] passing over with brief mention in order to emphasize rhetorically the suggestiveness of what is omitted - brief mention
and apophesis:
[from Greek, denial, negation] the raising of an issue by claiming not to mention it (as in "we won't discuss his past crimes") - claiming not to mention
edit: actually, we've discussed these here before -- I'd forgotten I'd pulled a Jesse S. quote:
The most important thing in any discussion like this is the fact that most rhetorical terms aren't defined quite as precisely as one would want or expect. I've always been interested by them, and I remember in college going to a professor of mine, the chairman of the classics department, to ask about some subtle distinction between two terms, and he basically laughed and said that it was completely irrelevant.
That said, in _my_ understanding, _apophasis_ is actually saying something specific while denying that you are going talk about it (e.g. "I won't mention the fact that Representative Smith has been supporting three children from adulterous relationships"), while _paralipsis_ (in various spellings, or _pr(a)eteritio(n),_ which is the same thing with a totally different name_) is the implication of something more serious by deliberately concise treatment (e.g. "I don't have time to mention Representative Jones's other faults.")
Last edited by tsuwm; 03/19/07 04:04 AM.
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I have found that Silva Rhet often disagrees with other sources.
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stranger
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stranger
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Well I for one am not all that impressed with his memory. I won't even mention how it took him five minutes to look it up. And don't even get me started on his preterition. ;-)
Last edited by BobSteinVisiBone; 03/19/07 02:10 PM.
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Pretty good, Bob--welcome aBoard! 
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