adianoeta
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Definition:
A rhetorical term for a text that has an alternative or "deeper" meaning in addition to its apparent or surface meaning.
Jay Heinrichs defines adianoeta as an "ironicfigure of hidden meaning" (Word Hero, 2011)
See also:
Etymology:
From the Greek, "unintelligible"
Examples and Observations:
- "To an unsuccessful applicant, a foundation writes, 'For your work, we have nothing but praise.'"
(Paul Kuritz, Fundamental Acting: A Practical Guide. Applause Theatre Books, 1998)
- In his Dictionary Of Rhetorical Terms (2010), Gregory T. Howard offers Shelley's "Ozymandias" as an example of adianoeta:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'
(Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ozymandias," 1818) - Adianoeta in Letters of Recommendation
"Obviously, employers should be able to write recommendations without fear of lawsuits. They need a way to convey honest--though perhaps unfavorable--information about a candidate for a job without the candidate being able to prove or even perceive it as such. To this end, I have designed the Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous Recommendations--L.I.A.R., for short. Two samples from the lexicon should illustrate the approach:- To describe a candidate who is not very industrious: 'In my opinion, you will be very fortunate to get this person to work for you.'
Phrases like these allow an evaluator to offer a negative opinion of the candidate's personal qualities, work habits, or motivation, yet enable the candidate to believe that he or she has been praised highly.
- To describe a candidate who is certain to foul up any project: 'I am sure that whatever task he undertakes--no matter how small--he will be fired with enthusiasm.'
"The phrases in the lexicon are not simply vague or ambiguous. Rather, they convey a double meaning that can be interpreted as either high praise or damning criticism. In this way, they satisfy everyone."
(Robert J. Thornton, The Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous Recommendations: Positive-Sounding Messages for People Who Can't Manage Their Own Sock Drawers. Sourcebooks, 2003)
- Adianoeta in African-American Ballads and Blues
"The boll weevil ballad, which comes from Texas, may serve as an example. The weevil is the arch enemy of the cotton planter.Fahmah say to de weevil
The weevil, which bores into the bolls of cotton with its proboscis, is the plantation worker in his eternal search for a home. In the farmer's Sunday hat, his best piece of property, the weevil will have a home. . . . The ballad is a song that invokes liberation; in the most harmless fable it conceals the call to rebel.
'whut makes yore head so red?'
weevil say to de fahmah,
'it's a wonder ah ain't dead,
lookin' foh a home, lookin' foh a home!'
Nigger say to de weevil,
'ah'll throw you in de hot san'!'
Weevil say to de nigger,
'ah'll stand it like a man,
ah'll have a home, ah'll have a home!'
Says de Capt'n to de Mistis,
'what do you thing ob dat?
Dis Boll Weevil done make a nes'
inside mah Sunday hat;
he will have a home, he'll have a home!'
"The old ballad was later turned into a blues song, for the two types fade imperceptibly into one another. In the Boll Weevil Blues the weevil then becomes the symbol of liberation."
(Janheinz Jahn, Muntu: African Culture and the Western World. Faber and Faber, 1961) - Adianoeta in Shakespeare's Hamlet
Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.
Polonius: What is the matter, my lord?
Hamlet: Between who?
Polonius: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.
Hamlet: Slanders, sir . . ..
(William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act Two, scene 2) - Quintilian's Criticism of Adianoeta
" Worst of all are the phrases which the Greeks call [adianoeta], that is to say, expressions which, though their meaning is obvious enough on the surface, have a secret meaning, as for example in the phrase cum ductus est caecus secundum viam stare, or where the man, who is supposed in the scholastic theme to have torn his own limbs with his teeth, is said to have lain upon himself. Such expressions are regarded as ingenious, daring and eloquent, simply because of their ambiguity, and quite a number of persons have become infected by the belief that a passage which requires a commentator must for that very reason be a masterpiece of elegance. Nay, there is even a class of hearer who find a special pleasure in such passages; for the fact that they can provide an answer to the riddle fills them with an ecstasy of self-congratulation, as if they had not merely heard the phrase, but invented it.
"For my own part, I regard clearness as the first essential of a good style: there must be propriety in our words, their order must be straightforward, the conclusion of the period must not be long postponed, there must be nothing lacking and nothing superfluous. Thus our language will be approved by the learned and clear to the uneducated. I am speaking solely of clearness in style, as I have already dealt with clearness in the presentation of facts in the rules I laid down for the statement of the case. But the general method is the same in both. For if what we say is not less nor more than is required, and is clear and systematically arranged, the whole matter will be plain and obvious even to a not too attentive audience."
(Marcus Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory, 95 AD; translated by H.E. Butler, 1922)
Pronunciation: ah-dee-ah-no-EE-tah