Expressions like, “I don’t not like that,” or, “You can’t not like being out,” are versions of litotes, a rhetorical device used for expressing understatement. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Put on your shoes and socks. Born and bred. Lock and load. The reason these phrases are illogically ordered probably stems from the way one forms vowels in the mouth. If you think too hard about these terms, they start to look preposterous, the...
The phrase I see you, meaning “I acknowledge what you’re doing,” comes from performance, and pops up often in African-American performance rhetoric. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “I See You” You...
What’s the difference between a mosquito and a lawyer? One’s a bloodsucking parasite, and the other’s an insect. This bait-and-switch joke, like many good paraprosdokians, get their humor by going contrary to our expectations. This...
Every elementary school student is taught never to start a sentence with but. But why? Teachers of young students often warn against beginning with but or and simply as a way of avoiding a verbal crutch. All mature writers develop an instinct for...
“I won’t even mention how beautiful she is, but you should really see her photo.” Rhetorical statements like this one, where the point is actually made by pretending to avoid it, is often called paralipsis or paraleipsis. It comes...