UNDERSTATEMENT

Understatement

Definition of Understatement

An understatement is a figure of speech employed by writers or speakers to intentionally make a situation seem less important than it really is.

Understatement is way of speaking which minimizes the significance of something. When using understatement, a speaker or writer often employs restraint in describing the situation at hand and uses an expression with less emphasis or strength than would be expected.
One very famous example of understatement occurred during a plane crash in 1982. After all four engines of British Airways Flight 9 failed due to volcanic ash, the captain of the flight made the following announcement: “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.” The situation at hand was clearly much more severe than “a small problem,” as the captain described it.

Difference Between Understatement, Litotes, and Euphemism

The concepts of understatement, litotes and euphemism are all very similar. The definition of understatement is such that it can apply to more situations than these more specific terms. Let us take a look at the slight differences between these figures of speech:

• Litotes–Litotes is a form of understatement which uses a negative to assert the opposite, positive quality. Litotes can also use double negatives. For example, if a person is very intelligent someone else might say, “He’s not dumb.” This is understatement because the person is far from dumb. One could also say, “He’s not unintelligent,” a double negative. Note that the understatement comes from context; if someone is just protesting another’s assertion that the man in question is dumb then it might not come off as understatement.
• Euphemism–Euphemism is not a form of understatement, yet they are related. A euphemism is a polite way of saying something more unpleasant or taboo. Euphemism often minimizes the discomfort the speaker feels with the subject at hand, and makes it more palatable by lessening the extremity of the situation.

Common Examples of Understatement

Understatement is very common in daily speech. The following sentences and situations are examples of understatement:

• “It’s a bit warm.” (When one is sweating profusely in a sauna or traveling through a desert at midday)
• “I’m a little tired.” (After completing a marathon or after having not slept all night long)

British humor is particularly famous for its use of understatement. The British are known for displaying restraint even in the direst circumstances. Monty Python, a British comedy group, used understatement in many of their sketches and scenes. A classic scene full of understatements comes from their movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” The character of King Arthur fights a knight and cuts off his arm. The knight stands his ground and avers that the loss of his arm is “‘Tis but a scratch.” Later, after King Arthur cuts off the knight’s other arm the knight argues, “It’s just a flesh wound!”

Significance of Understatement in Literature

Understatement is common in many different languages, and has been found in very ancient literatures from several different cultures. Sometimes authors use understatement for humorous reasons, though more often it is a technique for minimizing one thing thereby emphasizing another.

Examples of Understatement in Literature

The Great Gatsby (by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

I’ve got a nice place here,” he said, his eyes flashing about restlessly.
Turning me around by one arm, he moved a broad flat hand along the front vista, including in its sweep a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed motor-boat that bumped the tide offshore.

This quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is spoken by Tom Buchanan as he and narrator Nick Carraway survey his palatial estate. The place is obviously more than just “nice,” as Tom calls it. However, it would be boorish in this society to boast about one’s wealth, and instead Tom lets the sight of his house speak for itself.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (By Mark Twain)

[Aunt Sally] “Good gracious, anybody hurt?”
[Huck] “No’m. Killed a nigger.”

This excerpt from Mark Twain’s famous work provides one of the great understatement examples found in Twain’s literary pieces. Huck’s response, “No’m. Killed a nigger” exposes the thinking of the people of the time, who did not consider black men humans. Killing a black man was not considered something serious.

Litotes Definition

What is litotes? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Litotes is a figure of speech and a form of understatement in which a sentiment is expressed ironically by negating its contrary. For example, saying "It's not the best weather today" during a hurricane would be an example of litotes, implying through ironic understatement that the weather is, in fact, horrible.

Some additional key details about litotes:

• Litotes is pretty simple in the way it works: instead of stating something directly, you state that the contrary statement is not true.
• Typically, the contrary statement will be phrased as some sort of superlative (for example, "he's not the sharpest tool in the shed"). This is part of what makes litotes an example of understatement, since what's actually being expressed is "He's far from the sharpest tool in the shed."
• Litotes must contain a negative statement (as in, "not the best weather").

Litotes Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce litotes: lie-tuh-teez

Identifying Litotes

There are a number of things you can look for in order to identify whether or not a statement is litotes.

Litotes is Always a Form of Understatement

Litotes is a form of understatement, the intentional presentation of something as smaller, worse, or lesser than it really is. While some phrases might look like litotes at first glance, if they do not contain understatement, then they do not count as litotes. For instance, the expression "leave no stone unturned" contains a double negative and resembles certain examples of litotes (such as, "She wasn't unconvinced"). But there's actually no understatement in "leave no stone unturned," only a command to be thorough.

Litotes Always Involves Negation

If the phrase is an understatement, but does not contain negation, then it's not litotes. For example, if you said of a disgusting dish "it's edible," then your assessment would be understatement but not litotes ("It's not inedible" would be the litotic example).

Litotes Usually Works by Negating a Superlative or Extreme Statement

Litotes works by making its understatement obvious. It usually does this by negating a statement that is either extreme or involves words that are superlative, such as "best" or "most." For example, "I'm not starving" uses litotes by negating the extreme word "starving." It communicates that, while you may not be starving, you are in fact pretty hungry. In contrast, it's hard to imagine anyone ever successfully using the sentence "I'm not hungry" as a form of ironic understatement that actually communicates that they are, in fact, hungry. The presence of the extreme word, or of a superlative like "most" or "best" is usually necessary to make litotes work.

Litotes Can Depend on Context

Whether a particular sentence does or doesn't function as litotes can depend on the context in which it's said. Some negative phrases might be litotes in one context, and just a plain old sentence in a different context. For example:

• The sentence "It's not a Picasso" is just a regular sentence that contains no litotes if it's said in response to someone mistaking a Monet painting for a Picasso.
• But "it's not a Picasso" is litotes if someone is criticizing their badly-painted amateur artwork, with the implication being that the painting is far from being a Picasso.

Litotes Can Depend on Intonation and Other Quirks of Speech

Just as the context of a sentence can impact whether a statement is or isn't litotes, so can a speaker's intonation, pauses, or other features of their speech. For instance:

• That play was not the best.
• That play was... not the best.

The first sentence above might simply mean that the play was just okay, in which case it is not a case of litotes because it means exactly what it says—it wasn't the best. The second sentence, with its pause and emphasis on "not," though, seems to imply that the play was actually terrible. That second example would be litotes.

Litotes Can Risk Lack of Clarity

A common grievance about litotes is that, since it avoids directness, precision, and clarity, it can obscure what the writer really means to say. For instance, in the sentence, "Ten thousand dollars is not an inconsiderable sum of money," the writer seems to avoid stating that ten thousand dollars is actually a considerable sum of money. The statement might come across as timid or coy rather than direct, which can be frustrating for readers.
Similarly, negative statements in particular can lack clarity because, instead of affirming a truth, they simply negate a possibility. In other words, to say "She wasn't unhappy with her new car," if used as litotes, implies that the recipient of the car was, to some extent, happy. However it's unclear what her exact reaction was: was she just a bit happy, or ecstatic? Litotes, then, allows the speaker to avoid making statements with the precision of a statement in the affirmative (such as, "She was thrilled by the car," or "She was surprised to get a car").

Litotes and Verbal Irony

Litotes is a special form of verbal irony. Like litotes, verbal irony is a figure of speech in which the statement expressed is contrary to what is meant (though the true meaning is typically understood by the listener/reader). However, unlike litotes verbal irony does not have to involve understatement or the affirmation of something through the negation of its contrary. For example, after a catastrophic dinner party:

• A verbally irony statement could be: "Well, that went smoothly."
• A statement using litotes could be: "Well, that wasn't the best dinner party."

Verbal irony simply has to involve a meaning other than the literal meaning of the stated phrase. Verbal irony can involve sarcasm, overstatement, or understatement. To sum up, then: litotes is a particular type of verbal irony.

Litotes Examples

Litotes is a common literary device that appears everywhere, from daily conversation and pop culture to literature and political contexts.

Litotes Examples in Literature

Litotes is more common in everyday speech than it is in literature, where examples of litotes are oftentimes so subtle that they go unnoticed.

Litotes in T.S. Eliot's "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock"

In this excerpt from the iconic poem "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot, the self-conscious middle-aged man insists on his insignificance in the world by using litotes:

I am no prophet—and here's no great matter

In that final sentence, the speaker is using litotes to communicate that he's an ordinary human ("I am no prophet"), and that the subject on which he fixates is insignificant ("here's no great matter"). Further, because the poem comments on the stifled decorum of civilized society, the air of politeness that litotes brings to this passage serves the poem's tone perfectly.

Litotes in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

In an extreme case of understatement, the character Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet ironically understates the size and depth of the wound he's received from Tybalt through litotes.

No, 'tis not so deep as a well nor so wide as a
church-door, but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ask for
me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.

Litotes Examples in Common Expressions

Litotes is common in daily speech and everyday expressions. Here are some examples, paired with their probable meanings.

• It's not rocket science. (It's about as simple as it gets.)
• He's no spring chicken. (He's getting older.)
• It's not my first rodeo. (I'm very experienced.)
• You won't be sorry you bought this knife set. (You'll be happy you bought this knife set.)
• I don't deny that it was wrong. (I admit that it was wrong.)
• The trip wasn't a total loss. (The trip was mostly bad with some good elements.)
• He doesn't always have the best sense of direction. (He has a lousy sense of direction.)
• Graduating from college was no mean feat. (Graduating from college was a major achievement.)
• Parties just aren't my cup of tea. (I hate parties.)

Why Do Writers Use Litotes?

Writers use litotes to invoke the absence of a thing or quality, to soften harsh phrases, and sometimes for a bitingly ironic touch.

Litotes Describes Things by Invoking What They Aren't

In litotes, things are somewhat paradoxically described in terms of what they are not. So, when in Beauty and the Beast Belle says of the Beast, "He's no Prince Charming," that phrase conjures Prince Charming in the audience's mind. Litotes, then, involves a sort of verbal sleight of hand, since it both brings a thing to mind and emphasizes its absence. This can be useful when a writer wants to simultaneously call an image or quality into focus and dispel it through negation. For instance, when T.S. Eliot's speaker says "I am no prophet," Eliot intentionally leads the reader to imagine a prophet, even though that's exactly what the speaker claims he isn't.
This effect is especially useful in showing, in literature, what could have been. In Charles Wolfe's poem, the description, "not a drum was heard, not a funeral note," makes the reader see what was, presumably, expected at a British soldier's burial, therefore making vivid the reality of the soldier's fate.

Litotes Can Be Polite

Litotes is often used as a milder, gentler way of navigating requests, criticism, and conversation in general. For instance, the phrase, "I wouldn't say no to a drink" may seem less demanding (though more indirect) than "I'd like a drink." Further, the harsh sound of criticism can often be softened through the use of litotes. For instance, "He's not as young as he used to be" is more tactful than "He's gotten old," and "She isn't exactly a world class chef" takes the edge off the statement "She's a poor cook." This effect is related to euphemism, in which soft or indirect phrasing is used in place of blunt phrasing.

It Can Have a Comic or Snarky Effect

While litotes can be polite, it is also frequently a tool used in comic or snarky statements. "Unfortunately the senator isn't a genius" is an ironic way of insulting a senator's intelligence. Rather than being polite, it's a deliberately snarky and demeaning statement that uses irony and understatement to enhance its bite. So while litotes can help those who want to sound polite, it can also give a cutting edge to those who want to use it to win laughs or insult someone.

 

Euphemism

Euphemism Definition

The term euphemism refers to polite, indirect expressions that replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite, or which suggest something unpleasant. Euphemism is an idiomatic expression, which loses its literal meanings and refers to something else, in order to hide its unpleasantness. For example, “kick the bucket” is a euphemism that describes the death of a person. In addition, many organizations use the term “downsizing” for the distressing act of “firing” its employees.

Euphemism depends largely on the social context of the speakers and writers, where they feel the need to replace certain words that may prove embarrassing for particular listeners or readers in a particular situation.

Techniques for Creating Euphemism

Euphemism masks a rude or impolite expression, but conveys the concept clearly and politely. Several techniques are employed to create euphemism.

• It may be in the form of abbreviations, such as O. (body odor), and W.C. (toilet).
• Foreign words may be used to replace an impolite expression, such as faux (fake), or faux pas (foolish error).
• Sometimes, they are abstractions, such as before I go (before I die).
• They may also be indirect expressions replacing direct ones that may sound offensive, such as rear-end (one’s back side or buttocks), unmentionables (underwear or lingerie).
• Using longer words or phrases can also mask unpleasant words, such as flatulence (farting), perspiration (sweat), or mentally challenged (stupid).
• Using technical terms may reduce the rudeness exhibited by certain words, such as gluteus maximus (backside, butt, or buttocks).
• Deliberately mispronouncing an offensive word may reduce its severity, such as darn (damn), and shoot (shit).

Euphemism Examples in Everyday Life

Euphemism is frequently used in everyday life. Let us look at some common euphemism examples:

• You are becoming a little thin on top (bald).
• Our teacher is in the family way (pregnant).
• He is a little tipsy (drunk).
• We do not hire mentally challenged (stupid) people.
• He is a special child (disabled or learning challenged).

Function of Euphemism

Euphemism helps writers convey those ideas that have become a social taboo, and are too embarrassing to mention directly. Writers skillfully choose appropriate words to refer to and discuss a subject indirectly that otherwise might not published due to strict social censorship, such as for reasons of religious fanaticism, political theories, sexuality, and death. Thus, euphemism is a useful tool that allows writers to write figuratively about the difficult issues.

EXAMPLES 

 

* We're teaching our toddler how to go potty (Idiom/slang 1. US: to use the toilet: used by children or when talking to children; “Do you have to go potty?” Dora asked. 2. UK, slang (become insane): You poor thing: you must be going potty with worry.

He carved "Gone, but not forgotten" on the tombstone (deceased, dead person),  (also: Met his/her maker, Gave up the ghost, Checked out, Knocked on heaven's door, Kicked the bucket / can; Passed (probably the most common euphemism in use today); Passed away / on; Expired; Departed; Crossed over; Faded away; Got his/her wings ...

Didn’t Make It. This is yet another one meaning that someone has died, although we tend to say that someone didn’t make it if they were in an accident or fighting an illness, as it suggests that somebody didn’t make it through something.