Saying one thing but meaning the opposite

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Wed Nov 12 17:36:10 UTC 2008


At 11/12/2008 12:25 PM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote (and John Baker seconded):
>On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard
><gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Btw, what about humorously calling a tall, powerful man "Tiny"?
>
>Ooh! Antiphrasis.
>
>E.g.: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0502A&L=ADS-L&P=R8497

Aha!  There is a Greek word, and it's in the OED.  So I could call my
case "ironic (or sarcastic) antiphrasis".  But I don't think I dare
use "antiphrasis" in what I am writing for what I hope will be a
large, general audience.

Now the only Greek word I am (still) looking for (or looking to coin)
is one meaning "a lover of, or collector of, books about
religion".  I am presently going with "threskobibliophile", but I've
been told that may be somewhat off the mark.

Joel

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