Paradiastole, in atrope sense, (fromGreek παραδιαστολή from παράpara "next to, alongside", and διαστολήdiastole "separation, distinction") is the reframing of a vice as a virtue, often with the use ofeuphemism,[1] for example, "Yes, I know it does not work all the time, but that is what makes it interesting."[2] It is often usedironically.
Paradiastole has been described as "the rhetorical technique of evaluative redescription -- more popularly known as euphemism and dysphemism -- designed to enlarge or reduce the moral significance of something".[3] Another example is referring to manual labour as a "workout". Perhaps the most familiar usage today comes from the software world: "It's not abug; it's a feature!" (This is used both euphemistically and literally, as many features in software originated as bugs).[4]
In studies on classical antiquity, it has come to mean the repetition of disjunctive words in a list.
Inbiblical studies, paradiastole is a type ofanaphora (the repetition of one word at the beginning of successive clauses). Paradiastole uses certain words—either, or, neither, not, and nor—as disjunctions.[5] Adisjunction differs from aconjunction in that it separates things, whereas a conjunction joins them.
An example of this technique can be found in theGospel of John, clarifying the meaning of τέκνα θεοῦ (God's children):
In this passage, οὐκ and οὐδὲ (here translatednot andnor) function as the disjunctions. The paradiastole emphasizes that those who believed (οἳ πιστεύοντες) and became "God's children" were notphysically ("of blood", etc.) born again, butdivinely.
The FrenchEnlightenment writerVoltaire remarked sardonically: "This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire wasneither holy,nor Roman,nor an empire."[7]