Vocabulary Challenge!

[dr_tectonic]

Okay, I have a challenge for all y'all what have a big vocabulary.

I know that there are lots of interesting words for various rhetorical techniques, like: apophasis -- to bring something up by saying that you're not going to mention it.

I need a word for a technique I've seen in comment threads: saying one thing in normal text, and what you're really thiking in strikethrough. Example:

A: Despite some negative reviews, I really liked Halo 2.
B: You X-Box slut. Meh. I didn't think so much of it, myself.
A: Nintendo whore! No? What did you dislike?
B: I thought the graphics were ass a little sub-par and the storyline was OMG LAMEZOR! kinda weak.

So? What's the word for this? Surely there's some obscure glossary term we can repurpose to cover it...

Comments

[portlandpiglet.livejournal.com]

I vote that we call this an "aside", in reference to the theatrical device of a similar nature.

[toosuto.livejournal.com]

second.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm... it's close, but an aside is said in addition to whatever you're saying aloud, whereas in this case the actual "speech" is used instead of the strikethrough comments.

[toosuto.livejournal.com]

an aside is generally to add speech that the immediate conversation partner does not hear (even if they are standing right there) and clarifies the current situation dialogue more.

For Example:

KING: What news slave?

SLAVE: The news is good m'lord!

SLAVE: (aside) Thankfully he knows not of my plot to take his life when the revolution comes!

SLAVE: Your subjects are happy and love you a lot!

The difference is the strike comments are also intended for the immediate conversational partner to a humorous effect.

[toosuto.livejournal.com]

my pointbeing they work mechanically just like an aside. Think of the strike comments as meant not for the reply-ee but for the internet audience at large.

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

Aside works, but I also like the Subliminal Man nature of the comments you posted.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

"repurpose": ack! management-speak! Run, hide!

Anyway. :)

Unfortunately, the most accurate term I can think of, "passive-aggressive strike-through," doesn't have much of a ring to it.

How about: aside ? As in, "never make an aside you can't live with?"

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking, it isn't passive-aggressive, it's smarmy.

"revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness"

So a <smarm> tag. or <s> for short.

[ng-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

I think this would be referred to as "speaking under your breath" in speech. I think another appropriate word would be "subtext."

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't think you can actually do it in speech, I think it's just a written technique. But "subtext" is getting really close! Hmmm...

[eto-theipi.livejournal.com]

Don't be *cough*naive*cough* so sure you can't do it in speech.

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

Actually, what you are describing (the artful mention of something by not mentioning it) is actually a litotes. Aposiopesis is the literary/rhetorical device where you break-off in the middle of a story or thought, especially suddenly.

Both were WODs at one point, but neither *quite* fits the strikeout idea. And nothing's occuring to me at this moment. (Granted, it's after midnight).I'll dive into my collection of words to see it I can find something.

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

Reading the coments, I think that "aside" mostly works. But, I'll still research anyway. Not like I've got all that much to do.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

No, I'm pretty sure it's an apophasis. (Not an aposipesis.) So distinct, I know. =)

Litotes is an ironic negative understatement: "not the brightest" (i.e., dumb) or "not unsuccessful" (i.e., successful). Are you thinking of paraleipsis, which is nearly synonymous with apophasis? (And can you explain the subtle difference between the two to me, 'cause I couldn't quite get it?)

[stowellian.livejournal.com]

I propose "strikeside" as a combination of strike-through and aside.

[ng-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

What about "striketext?"

Totally pointless

[bryree.livejournal.com]

"Are you thinking of paraleipsis, which is nearly synonymous with apophasis? (And can you explain the subtle difference between the two to me, 'cause I couldn't quite get it?)"

Apparently, the two are precisely synonymous except that paraleipsis has a connection to 'preterition,' which is yet another synonym while also having legal and theological meanings.

(/lookingthingsupindictionary)

[detailbear.livejournal.com]

It would seem to have a elements of an oxymoron (two contradictory words together), a cacaphemism (opposite of euphemism — substituting a unpleasant term for a neutral one), and a pleonasm (redundant words, enriching the thought).

It also seems related to that game of inserting a pseudo-subliminal word or phrase into your conversation, quickly, at a lower volume. ("She's well-liked by all [tramp].")

I kind of like "ignore-rant" for a term for it. Or "un-struck" comments. Or maybe "passage-aggressive".

[bryree.livejournal.com]

Ironically, the practice seems to be engaging in both cacaphemism and euphemism simultaneously, err...rather...close on each others' heels.

Rather hard to do 'simultaneous' in the written word...

[bryree.livejournal.com]

My first thought was that it was subtext, as Neal pointed out and you agreed was close (great minds think alike...and somehow mine got in there too!)

And so, I propose engaging in a common and time-honored(?) American practice known as 'verbing' and calling the action "subtexting," by which one expresses a "subliminism"
[which engages another time-honored tradition known as "coining." ;-)}

I think I should declare myself quite done before I hurt something...

[bryree.livejournal.com]

Speaking of 'verbing,' isn't there a term that means "a word that is what it describes?" (i.e. the word 'verbing' is an example thereof.)

[stowellian.livejournal.com]

I second striketext. Neal's better at this game than I am.

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen much of that, but I'm familiar with the concept.