Paralepsis
Paralepsis /ˌpær
əˈlɛpsɪs/ – the suggestion, by deliberately concise treatment of a topic, that much of significance is being omitted, as in “not to mention other faults.” From the Ancient Greek παράλειψις, meaning “omission.” Also spelled paraleipsis or paralipsis.
Here’s a real-life example of political paralepsis wherein then-candidate Barack Obama addressed Hillary Clinton’s suggestion that he (Obama) was unelectable:
“And this argument is being pushed, by the way, by a candidate who starts off with a 47% disapproval rating. You know, so, I’m not going to mention names, but I mean the notion that a viability or an electability argument is being made by somebody who starts off with almost half the country not being able to vote for (pause and laughter) them doesn’t make sense.”
ahickpoet
February 27th, 2010 at 12:02 am #
I have now seen three different spellings of this word. Curious, though perhaps it is a transliteration problem from the Greek?
silentschwa
February 28th, 2010 at 4:47 pm #
I'm guessing you're right on that. Transliteration into English is sometimes less than graceful (and accurate).