Definition:
A rhetorical term for a kind of euphemism in which something usually thought of as a vice is treated as a virtue, or (less often) vice versa.
See also:
Etymology:
From the Greek, "putting together dissimilar things"Examples and Observations:
- Avril Talbot: Would you like him to know you're blackmailing me?
Snell: Blackmail is an old-fashioned word, Miss Talbot.
Avril Talbot: Well, what would you call it?
Snell: It's business. I'm selling; you're buying. I'm selling a little commodity known as silence.
(Naomi Chance and Harold Lang, Wings of Danger, 1952) - Gus: Are you crazy?
Shawn: I wouldn't say crazy. Maybe an eccentric who looks good in jeans.
(Dulé Hill and James Roday in "And Down the Stretch Comes Murder." Psych, 2007) - "'His books are positively Gallic in their audacity and restraint. Audacity is not rare--but that perfect concision of style is a gift which--'
"'Oh, if you like dirt,' interrupted the Captain, rather rudely.
"'I wouldn't call it that,' said Mrs. Featherstone. 'He is frank, of course, and that is what people in this country will not forgive. It is part of our national hypocrisy. But the beauty of the writing puts it all on a higher plane.'
"'Well, I wouldn't have that muck in the house,' said the Captain, firmly."
(Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison, 1930) - Brutus as "Purger" of Caesar, Not "Murderer"
"And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcase fit for hounds:
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide them. This shall make
Our purpose necessary, and not envious;
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be called purgers, not murderers."
(Brutus in Act II, scene one of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare) - On Brutus's Use of Paradiastole
"Brutus cannot simply be dismissed for attempting, in [Henry] Peacham's phrase, to oppose the truth by false terms. But nor is he able to provide an unassailable justification of his act. Was he a purger or merely a murderer? It is part of his tragedy, we are made to realise, that this is a question without an answer; it will always be possible to argue in utramque partem, on either side of the case. Such is the power of rhetoric; more specifically, such is the power of paradiastole."
(Quentin Skinner, "Paradiastole: Redescribing the Vices as Virtues." Renaissance Figures of Speech, ed. by Sylvia Adamson, Gavin Alexander, and Katrin Ettenhuber. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007) - How to Use Paradiastole
"To convey a gently ironic euphemism, take your unpleasant subject and pith it down to the key words. Now hunt for the pleasantest synonyms you can find. Feel free to use words that connote a contrasting quality to your original key words. . . . [Y]ou can describe a close-lipped dullard as 'contemplative,' or a slob as 'informal' or 'Bohemian.' The gentility in this form of humor may not appeal to everyone; but a word-loving audience will quote you. You will stand out heroically in our foulmouthed, angry culture. Or, rather, our frank, passionate culture."
(Jay Heinrichs, Word Hero. Three Rivers Press, 2011) - Puttenham on Paradiastole
"[I]f such moderation of words tends to flattery, or soothing, or excusing, it is by the figure paradiastole, which therefore nothing improperly we call the Curry-Favel. As when we make the best of a bad thing, or turn a signification to the more plausible sense: as, to call an unthrift, a liberal gentleman; the foolish--hardy, valiant or courageous; the niggard, thrifty; a great riot or outrage, a youthful prank; and such like terms. moderating and abating the force of the matter by craft and for a pleasing purpose. As appeareth by these verses of ours, teaching in what cases it may commendably be used by courtiers."
(George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie, 1589)
Pronunciation: pa-ra-die-ASS-to-lee
