# What the heck is this rhetorical device called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-this-rhetorical-device-called/203364 "2003-09-23T17:51:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-this-rhetorical-device-called/203364/1 "2003-09-23T17:51:37Z")
It’s been bothering me all day. If I say: “And I won’t even _mention_ 1920s Death Rays…” Obviously, I did bring them up, even though I said I wouldn’t. I’m almost positive I learned this Once Upon a Time. What the heck is this thing called? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-this-rhetorical-device-called/203364/2 "2003-09-23T18:07:53Z")
[http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/P/paralipsis.htm](http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/P/paralipsis.htm)]Paralipsis? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-this-rhetorical-device-called/203364/3 "2003-09-23T18:23:02Z")
[http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/P/paralipsis.htm](http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/P/paralipsis.htm) Damn it! ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-this-rhetorical-device-called/203364/4 "2003-09-23T20:38:23Z")
I wonder why, on the page that **Nametag** sites, they give the english as “paralipsis”, but the greek would transliterate as “paralepsis” (an e for an i)? Is this common? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-this-rhetorical-device-called/203364/5 "2003-09-23T20:44:33Z")
An e for an i and some teeth for a tooth. ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-this-rhetorical-device-called/203364/6 "2003-09-23T20:59:22Z")
From the _alt.usage.english_ FAQ: > [@](#): > > ## “I won’t mention…” > > Mentioning something by saying you aren’t going to mention it > (e.g., “I won’t mention his laziness”) is called “apophasis” or > “preterition”. Joseph Shipley’s _Dictionary of World Literary > Terms_ (The Writer, 3rd ed., 1970) says: “~apophasis~ Seeming to > deny what is really affirmed. Feigning to pass by it while really > stressing it” (e.g., “not to mention his laziness”): “paralepsis. > Touching on it casually: metastasis. Pretending to shield or > conceal while really displaying (as Antony with Caesar’s will in > Shakespeare’s play): parasiopesis. […] ~autoclesis~ (P. the > self-inviter). Introduction of an idea by refusing before being > requested, intending thus to awaken (and respond to) a demand, as > Antony with the will in _Julius Caesar_.” “Paralepsis” is more > often spelled “paraleipsis” (which is the Greek form) or > “paralipsis”. A few sources (such as The Century Dictionary, > and the Universal English Dictionary by Henry Cecil Wyld) do not > support a distinction between apophasis and paraleipsis. From the _Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition_: > [@](#): > > [a. Gr. passing by omission, f. to leave on one side, pass by; late L. paralipsis (Aquila).] > > A rhetorical figure in which the speaker emphasizes something by affecting to pass it by without notice, usually by such phrases as ‘not to mention’, ‘to say nothing of’. > > 1586 A. DAY Eng. Secretary II. (1625) 95 Paralepsis or Occupatio, when in seeming to ouer-passe, omit, or let-slip a thing, we then chiefly speake thereof. 1589 PUTTENHAM Eng. Poesie III. xix. (Arb.) 239 Paralepsis, or the Passager. 1657 J. SMITH Myst. Rhet. 165 Paralipsis,…Preterition. 1842 BRANDE Dict. Sci., etc., Paraleipsis, in Rhetoric, the artificially exhibited omission or slight mention of some important point, in order to impress the hearers with indignation, pity, etc. Note that _paralipsis_ is the preferred OED spelling; _paralepsis_ and _paraleipsis_ refer to it. The root words are given in Greek letters: _paraleipsis_ is ‘passing by omission’, _paraleipein_ is ‘to leave on one side’.