From Richard Nordquist,
Your Guide to Grammar & Composition.
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Definition:

A rhetorical question implying strong affirmation or denial.

Etymology:

From the Greek, "a questioning"

Examples and Observations:

• "Was I an Irishman on that day that I boldly withstood our pride? or on the day that I hung down my head and wept in shame and silence over the humiliation of Great Britain?"
  (Edmund Burke, Speech in the Electors of Bristol)



• "II Kings 7:3 contains an example of the figure of speech erotesis. Four leprous men at the entering of the gate of the city asked: 'Why sit we here until we die?' The question was not asked for an answer but rather for effect. It means literally: 'There is no sense of our sitting around here until we die!' Erotesis--(rhetorical questions)--are used to emphasize the literal truth. By using this figure Jesus Christ put extra emphasis on his cry of triumph: THIS WAS MY DESTINY!"
  (Michael Cortright, 1997)



• "You may think that you are not superstitious. But would you walk under a burning building?"
  (Robert Benchley, "Good Luck, and Try and Get It")



• "Do you then really think that you have committed your follies in order to spare your son them?"
  (Herman Hesse, Siddhartha)



• "D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
  Bluto: Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
  Otter: Germans?
  Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
  (John Belushi as John "Bluto" Blutarsky in Animal House)



• "On Friday time to party
  let me see you swing and sway.
  Let me see you swing
  tell me are you down with me.
  Are you with me?
  Are you with me?
  (Craig David, "Time to Party")

Pronunciation: e-ro-TEE-sis

Also Known As: rhetorical question