From A+ Club Lesson Planner & Study Guide
- also called "Paralipsis"
- author mentions an argument or fact in order to deny it or to deny using it
- also used to mention something indirectly
- = a form of irony
- may be seen as a "passive-aggressive" argument
- in that it states something while apologizing for having stated it
- examples:
- "But we won't talk about my opponent's disastrous married life"
- "It would be a breach of decorum to mention base morals such as she embodies"
- actual use of paralipses:
- during the 1984 presidential debates, Ronald Reagan, who was much older than his opponent, stated,
- "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."