3 ms·
Kids in the Pacific Northwest use litotes constantly, to the point of annoyance, and possibly more often than they use the straightforward positive. Everything
by Telemakhos 10mo ago
Kids in the Pacific Northwest use litotes constantly, to the point of annoyance, and possibly more often than they use the straightforward positive. Everything is "not bad" or "not great" or, if really bad, "super not great." I've always taken it to be a kind of avoidance of confessing one's real feelings.
- thedrexster 10mo ago"super not great" IS a real feeling :) (fellow PNWer, I'd never before thought of this as a regional thing!)
- thedrexster 10mo agoalso, TIL the word "litotes" -- thank you, brother!
- mbg721 10mo agoThe verbal construction words you learn in Classics are excellent. Litotes, chiasmus, synecdoche...
- gsf_emergency_6 10mo agoBest examples of litotes can be found in social media, Chinese or English or any language My guess is that "bu chuo" _was_ a litotes (or originated as one) but the ironic component evaporated with familiarity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litotes#Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litotes#Chinese The literal English translation still seems to be a litotes
- buildbot 10mo agoYeah this tracks - if someone says something is “not great” it’s probably extremely bad haha. or “super cool no problems here” (there’s tear gas streaming through the windows)