# What's the name for this literary device?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-for-this-literary-device/65901>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 19, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-for-this-literary-device/65901 "2001-05-19T12:24:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![quixotic78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ab097/32.png) [@quixotic78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quixotic78)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-for-this-literary-device/65901/1 "2001-05-19T12:24:31Z")

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Well, maybe it’s more of a “sitcom” device than a literary device, but I’ll ask anyways. The device I’m talking about, ubiquituous on television, is when a person says, “I’m not even going to MENTION [thing s/he isn’t going to mention].” For example, if Sally is insulting Bob, she may say, “That Bob, he’s fat, he stinks, he masturbates in public, and I’m not even going to MENTION his felching.”

So how about it? Is there some Greek word for this? Or at least some technical sounding English term?

Thanks,  
Quix

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**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-for-this-literary-device/65901/2 "2001-05-19T15:16:42Z")

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I’ll give you three:  
_apophasis_  
_paraleipsis_  
_praeteritio_

From [www.earnestspeakers.com/figuresofspeech.html](http://www.earnestspeakers.com/figuresofspeech.html)

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**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-for-this-literary-device/65901/3 "2001-05-19T15:56:47Z")

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Cliché?

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**Author:** ![ThisYearsGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-for-this-literary-device/65901/4 "2001-05-19T21:43:43Z")

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In the world of debating, I think this technique is known as apophasis.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-for-this-literary-device/65901/5 "2001-05-19T22:26:03Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> **paralipsis** : Stating and drawing attention to something in the very act of pretending to pass it over. A kind of irony.
> 
> **proslepsis** : When paralipsis … is taken to its extreme. The speaker provides full details.
> 
> **cataphasis** : A kind of paralipsis in which one explicitly affirms the negative qualities that one then passes over.

All these definitions are from [Silva Rhetoricae](http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm) Click on the link to see examples the use of these figures.

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**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2001, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-for-this-literary-device/65901/6 "2001-05-20T02:20:33Z")

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When I learned it in Latin in my sophomore year of HS, I believe it was praeterition. I never saw it spelled, but on tests our teacher would ask us to identify X literary devices or whatnot. Ellipsis and praeterition were two I actively sought out because they’re so derned easy to find.