What a great word, appropriate to political speak and marketing blather, among other dialects. D calls this type of word/phrase NLP
paralipsis (par-uh-LIP-sis) noun, plural paralipses (-seez)
Drawing attention to something while claiming to be passing over it.
[From Late Latin paralipsis, from Greek paraleipsis (an omission), from paraleipein (to leave on one side), from para- (side) + leipein (to leave).]
Paralipsis is especially handy in politics to point out an opponent's faults. It typically involves these phrases:
- “not to mention”
- “to say nothing of”
- “I won't speak of”
- “leaving aside”
An example from Moby Dick: “We will not speak of all Queequeg's peculiarities here; how he eschewed coffee and hot rolls, and applied his undivided attention to beefsteaks, done rare.”
from Word of the Day
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