Monday, October 11, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 53

litote

an understatement created by a double negative. IE. He was not unfriendly. Double negatives are Miss Precious Pipkin (the grammarian)'s nightmare and sure to get you a D on the anal-retentive scale. However, littes are often used by authors and by people that come from Brooklyn (like me, where it is officially grammatical). One might say, I'm pro-litote.

Edward C. Patterson

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