Sunday, September 4, 2011

Rhetoric - paralipsis



paralipsis [ˌpærəˈlɪpsɪs] n.

1.) A rhetorical figure in which the speaker emphasizes something by affecting to pass it by without notice, usually by such phrases as "not to mention", or "to say nothing of" (Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition).

Etymology: adopted from Greek παράλειψις passing by omission, from παραλείπειν to leave on one side, pass by; late Latin paralipsis (Aquila).

"quid vero? nuper cum morte superioris uxoris novis nuptiis locum vacuefecisses, nonne etiam alio incredibili scelere hoc scelus cumulavisti? quod ego praetermitto et facile patior sileri, ne in hac civitate tanti facinoris immanitas aut exstitisse aut non vindicata esse videatur" (Oratio Qva L. Catilinam Emisit In Senatv Habita, Marcus Tullius Cicero, 63 B.C.)

"What? when lately by the death of your former wife you had made your house empty and ready for a new bridal, did you not even add another incredible wickedness to this wickedness? But I pass that over, and willingly allow it to be buried in silence, that so horrible a crime may not be seen to have existed in this city, and not to have been chastised" (The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, C. D. Yonge and B. A. London (trans.), 1856).

(Cicerone denuncia Catilina, Cesare Maccari, 1889)
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Hi all, just a quick reminder that today is the last day to submit your paragraphs for the weekly challenge. Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Thanks for reading!

10 comments:

themajessty said...

Just to double check - so you summarize all the words on Monday, and we have to use five of those seven words in a comment/blog post?

Right. This sounds hard. Do we have to make sense in our sentences?

By the way, I have a suggestion. The examples you cite are usually quotes from books etc., but I think it would be a lot more fun if you came up with a sentence to use the word you're featuring and post it as well. It would be a more personal touch and you could get creative with the word. (:

Forget it if you hate the idea.

Mai Yang said...

:( too bad my weekend was not that good. lol

anyway, this word is kinda hard to pair with others. lol (again)

Bibi said...

So actually, by using a paralipsis, you can just criticise someone else, and after that, say: "oh, but that doesn't matter, let's move on to other stuff" Really classy...

D4 said...

I know this one, but I always forget it.

As far as the written thing, I'm not sure I'll be able to. I'm gonna try, but I think I'm gonna fall short on time.

GMSoccerPicks said...

I have paralipsis on the right side of my face...ohhh wait that's not what you meant. :P Ok it was lame i know...im sorry

Jazz bazooka said...

will not know how to spell it correctly in less than five minutes, but still , thank you

mamtc said...

confusing word, I need to check more examples to learn on how to use it

Unknown said...

Ohohoho I use paralipsis all the time but I didn't know the word!

Meri said...

hmmm, the boyfriend can't stand people who use this- he thinks its manipulative. I'm not sure if I agree or not.

Unknown said...

I feel bad that I will not be entering a paragraph this week. I started with good intentions but, you know what they say about them...

Interesting word. I still find myself having to read the meaning a couple of times until I finally think I have a vague understanding.

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