Saying one thing but meaning the opposite

[Baker, John]

        For a more exotic Graecism, how about antiphrasis, a figure of
speech that is a word used to mean the opposite of its usual sense,
especially ironically?  Ben Zimmer had a post on antiphrastic nicknames
among the Rough Riders of the Spanish-American War at
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0502A&L=ADS-L&P=R8497.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Cohen, Gerald Leonard
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 12:20 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Saying one thing but meaning the opposite

Or sarcasm? Btw, what about humorously calling a tall, powerful man
"Tiny"?

Gerald Cohen

> ----------
> From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of Jesse Sheidlower
> Reply To:     American Dialect Society
> Sent:         Wednesday, November 07120820082008 11:15
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:           Re: Saying one thing but meaning the opposite
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Saying one thing but meaning the opposite
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 12:00:07PM -0500, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > When someone says "my good friends" but means the opposite, what is
this figure of speech called?
>
> I know you're expecting an exotic Graecism, but I'm pretty sure that
the usual rhetorical term for this is just "irony".
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
> OED

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