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
Some people work hard to lose their accent in order to fit in. Others may be homesick for the voices they grew up with and try to reclaim them. How can you regain your old accent? Also, a compelling book about scientific taxonomy shows how humans...
Need a slang term that can replace just about any noun? Try chumpie. If you’re from Philadelphia, you may already know this handy placeholder word. And there’s Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, and … The Bronx — why do we add...