Under- and overstatement | Style | Grammar

Hello, grammarians! Hello, David! Hello, Rosie!

So today we're going to talk about understatement and overstatement, and I could not be more excited. This is like the coolest thing that's happened to me all week. Oh my gosh! Really? No, I mean, I'm excited! This is a really interesting topic, but I was deliberately overstating. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty cool, but that is a perfect example, David, of what overstatement is.

So we're gonna look at a couple of examples of what writers will do sometimes. I would say both understatement and overstatement really help to drive a point home. We're going to start with understatement. So David, do you want to read this sentence?

Sure! “So you kidnapped my dog, drove to New Orleans without telling anyone, and ate the last cookie that I was saving.”

Yeah, I'm like vaguely unhappy. This is a horrible thing that just happened! So when you said, "Yeah, I'm like vaguely unhappy," after this huge list of horrible things that this supposed friend has done, you know it's clear that you're more than just a little vaguely unhappy.

To be clear, grammarians, Rosie did not do any of these things. Thank you, David! This sentence is a work of fiction. Thank you for letting me off the hook!

There you are! So what we're trying to express in this sentence is that this is something that should make the speaker or the writer quite unhappy. But what we're doing here is deliberately understating the case to further drive home the point that this is actually quite serious.

Exactly! So ironically, while the writer is using minimizing language, saying "I am vaguely unhappy" or "like vaguely unhappy," which serves to further qualify that statement, the fact that they're saying that after such a litany of sins, like the cookie, even that's just... oh really, serves to drive home the opposite effect. So this is a textbook example of understatement.

All right, so we've seen an example of understatement. Let's take a look at what an overstatement might look like.

“My life is over! I got a D on the midterm! I am dead! I am literally a skeleton!”

Oh wow! So this is a great, a great example of overstatement. So we know this isn’t true, right? A D on your midterm? Not great, but is it truly and actually the end of someone's life? No! And this author, this writer knows that. Knows what they're saying because skeletons can't write!

Exactly! And you might have also heard of hyperbole, which is what this is. This is like way exaggeration, but it serves to drive home this person's point that they feel really bad that they got a D on this midterm. And this is a very effective way of conveying to us how upset they are, even though they're not literally a skeleton, and they don't think they're literally a skeleton.

I think the emotional impact of this is much more effective than it would be if I just said, “I am very upset because I got a D on my midterm.” Like, I think this is more expressive. And certainly, it's not true, but I think there's an interesting way to play with overstatement and understatement in order to get feelings across.

I think there's like a little bit of a taboo in American English-speaking culture to literally say the state of your emotions. And so we've discovered these cultural idioms through which we transmit emotion. So like compare the following two examples, delivered by Rosie.

“Okay, I'm very angry,” or “Yeah, you could say I'm a little upset.”

Now Rosie is using understatement! I think and I feel that the statement that uses understatement actually conveys more anger because it's more socially acceptable in the United States to somewhat publicly repress your emotions.

Yeah, exactly! I mean, you could hear somebody say, “Yeah, I think I'm pretty upset about that,” and they're kind of laughing, but they're upset. You can see the glorious subtlety of these language techniques.

And I understand this can make English a minefield for people trying to learn the language because the subtext of what you're saying with overstatement and understatement is more important than the text itself.

Exactly! And it’s very difficult to learn to interpret those cues. There are plenty of native speakers who have trouble with it. It's true! And it's just something that you'll— you can keep an eye out for when you're reading and also when you're talking to people. It may start to... you may start to spot them more as you listen.

And I suspect that if you listen and you study, I have this sneaking suspicion that you can learn anything!

David out! Rosie out!

That was awesome! That was fun!