It would be wrong of me to say

March 7, 2008 5:21 PM

What do we call the rhetorical device by which we draw attention to something by claiming that we are not going to discuss that very thing? "It would be wrong of me to mention my opponent's drinking problem, so I would never do that." "I would never dream of pointing out that big pimple on your nose."

Needless to say, this device is not exactly the same as saying "goes without saying ..."

posted by Rain Man to writing & language (14 comments total)

I think this thread deals with what you're asking about
posted by thumpasor at 5:25 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]

Paralipsis.
posted by Mr. Justice at 5:27 PM on March 7

Thanks -- Why didn't my search find this? (he wonders)
posted by Rain Man at 5:33 PM on March 7

I think the term proslepsis, mentioned tangentially in the wikipedia entry as an answer in the askme thumpasor links to, is closer to what you're looking for than apophasis or paralepsis. The latter use pat phrases to stand in for content, or add something almost as an afterthought. Proslepsis, on the other hand, puts the subject matter front and center (the example given in the link is a good one). I remember this device being used by...who? Cicero? Caesar?...well, I can't remember who, but it was used in a speech I read as part of high school Latin.
posted by cocoagirl at 5:35 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]

Ha ha, all this time I've been calling it "passive aggression".
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:38 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]

Oh, and cocoagirl probably means Marc Antony's I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him speech from Julius Caesar- "And Brutus is an honorable man".
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:40 PM on March 7

Right on, pseudostrabismus.
posted by cocoagirl at 5:42 PM on March 7

@cocogirl

Cicero. Third Speech Against Catullus, if I remember correctly.

Let's see... "We come now to that man's, as he calls it, studious pursuit or as his friends and family call it, sickness and insanity. Or as the poor Sicilians call it, highway robbery. I do not know what to call it, honorable judges, that is a matter for you to decide."

There ya go.
posted by driley at 5:49 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]

Also, praeteritio.
posted by desuetude at 6:04 PM on March 7

May I recommend Aristotles' poetics?
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 8:30 PM on March 7

Would certainly be a subset of Circumlocution.
posted by SlyBevel at 8:51 PM on March 7

Smartassines?!
posted by zouhair at 7:04 AM on March 8

driley, I think you mean Cataline.
I learned this term as praeteritio.
posted by misterbrandt at 10:05 AM on March 8

I second praeteritio, but its most notable use in Cicero was his prosecution of
Verres, surely?
posted by IndigoJones at 10:34 AM on March 8