Undertatement and Litotes
Understatement
Undertatement (meiosis in the Greek) is the opposite of Hyperbole. Instead of exaggerating something, a thing is said to be much less than it actually is. The effect is usually ironic. Here are some examples:
- In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio is fatally wounded, but describes his wound as "a scratch". (the description is much less than the thing itself)
- A starving man says, "I'm a little bit peckish." (peckish means a little hungry.)
- A dying man says, "I'm feeling a bit off-colour today."
- A student gets 100% for a test, having failed all year, and the teacher says, "You've shown some improvement."
Understatement is used to draw ironic attention to achievement. I guess the less you make of something the more others will make of it. English idiom is full of undertatement - it is almost part of the English character, if such a thing exists, a mock modesty which belies English self-confidence. After all, "God is an Englishman!"
Litotes
A special form of understatement in which something is stated by negating its opposite. In English, negatives cancel each other out. In some languages they reinforce each other. "Not unhappy" means "Not unhappy" = "Happy!"
- She's not the brightest girl in the class! (She's stupid!)
- He's not the handsomest fellow! (He's ugly!)
- They aren't the happiest couple around. (They're unhappy.)
Exercise One
Write a dialogue in which one character uses hyperbole, and the other uses understatement or litotes.
Start:
A: I woke up so happy my heart felt it would burst!
B: ________________________________________________
etc.
