whimperative
n.— «The whimperative and the impositive are polite ways of commanding or requesting through indirection. Sadock states: “Every language provides subtle and not-so-subtle means of encoding information about the intentions of the speaker and his assumptions about the speech situation in the sentences he uses”….At times, deliberate ambiguity of illocutionary force may be used defensively in making a provocative utterance because the speaker can claim he never meant the statement in the way it was conceived by the listener.» —“The Question Intonation in Assertions” by Marvin K.L. Ching American Speech Summer, 1982. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
While reading Great Expectations (Bookshop|Amazon) by Charles Dickens, a listener in Arlington, Texas, is surprised when one of the characters inherits some money, which Dickens describes as a cool four thousand. Were they really using cool that way...
The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, you may hear...