Maybe She Isn’t Pretty

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Holly Alamo and I live on Martha’s Vineyard, but I’m originally from Philadelphia.

What I used to hear when my mother would be talking to her friends was the phrase, and maybe she isn’t pretty. And that usually meant she was very pretty. And I don’t know where that came from. And it would go like this. I just saw Bobby the other day with his new girlfriend, and maybe she isn’t pretty. And that meant she was pretty. And where did that come from?

And so you’re saying maybe she isn’t pretty. There wasn’t any particular stress on any one of the words in that? Like maybe she isn’t pretty?

Yeah, it would be like, and maybe she isn’t pretty. And maybe she isn’t pretty.

Do you come from a Yiddish-speaking background?

No.

No? Okay.

No.

The reason I ask is this is common not only in Yiddish and English that’s derived from Yiddish, but also in other languages, French and Spanish and Danish. It’s something called laitotes, which is ironic negation or saying the opposite of what you mean. Like the best example is to say not bad instead of saying good, right? That’s not bad instead of saying that’s good. And every language that I’ve looked into, including French and Spanish and German, they all have a version of this.

Other ways that we say it in English, we might say he’s no slouch, meaning he’s very good at whatever it is we’re talking about. He’s not lazy. He’s skilled. Or we might say that’s not exactly cheap, meaning it’s expensive. It’s odd that it’s negating something positive. You don’t usually see that. Very positive. He’s not wealthy, meaning he’s wealthy.

Yeah. Well, this is, you know, and maybe she isn’t pretty. And that always meant that she was a very pretty girl. I think there’s also an unspoken phrase there after that. Maybe she isn’t pretty, but unspoken is, but I think she is. And you often find this kind of unspoken intention in this negative inversion that people have where they say the opposite of what they mean.

I never remember it continuing. It’s just such an unusual thing.

Yeah. Well, no biggie. We’re going to have to take your call here.

Okay.

Don’t be a stranger.

Another one.

Oh, well, thank you. You’re not too shabby, Holly.

Okay.

Oh, that’s good. Thank you.

All right. Bye-bye.

All right. Thank you.

Well, maybe other folks have heard this expression, maybe she isn’t pretty. I’d love to hear about that. You can call us day or night and leave a message, 877-929-9673.