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#127349 04/13/04 06:59 PM
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wwh Offline OP
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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.]




#127350 06/14/04 08:34 PM
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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...


#127351 06/15/04 09:53 AM
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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


#127352 06/15/04 02:22 PM
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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


#127353 06/15/04 04:11 PM
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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.


#127354 06/15/04 05:31 PM
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which is why I mentioned the searchable (i.e., via a page find) aspect, if you use some key words.



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