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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
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Excellent and appropriate ref, slithy. I especially like the example of litotes as ironic understatement: We saw him throw the buckets of paint at his canvas in disgust, and the result did not perfectly represent his subject, Mrs. Jittery. A great word: litotesHmmm. Useful, certainly, but sounds a little too much like a vaguely embarrassing condition for my liking. 
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes indeed, lovely slithy--thank you.
sounds a little too much like a vaguely embarrassing condition for my liking.
I see what you mean, Shona! I can just see a parent cringing when a well-meaning child asks a neighbor, "How's your litotes?" That could be not a little uncomfortable.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 320
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 320 |
I dunno...as words go, I'd say it's not bad.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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not a little uncomfortable
Is that not unlike "a lot uncomfortable"?
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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not a little uncomfortable
Is that not unlike "a lot uncomfortable"?
Yep--I was just doing a bit of litoteasing!
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<..if the professor says that something *is not inapplicable..>>
All depends what the meaning of "is" is, huh?
I'd say the phrase means, is applicable but with only a slight hedge and a big insinuation. When he doubles the negative it means it's the precendent is applicable, but the way he puts it make it, he wants to express some doubt -- but he's doing that tongue-halfway-in-cheek. He means it's applicable and he's so damn smart to know it, too!
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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...he's more or less stating it's applicability as fact. It's a turn of phrase rather than a turn in meaning...
Aside from its meaning (and the fact I wasn't there) the words immediately struck me as being a conversational contradiction to someone insisting that whatever it was was innapplicable.
[I'll insert Monty Python's arguement sketch link here when it becomes *applicable]
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Alpha Delta Eta Kappa
I'm the son of a rapper an' I look pretty dapper
How does that grab ya, babeee?
Beta Epsilon Theta Lambda
'S all Greek to me, don' ya speak to me
Baaa! Yeah!
Gamma Zeta Iota Mu
I stew in the heat of an alphabet zooNot bad for a honky*, but the beat should really be on the 2 and 4.  (*cross-threading there)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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