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An illustration of a weasel using "weasel words". In this case, "some people" are a vague and undefined authority. In rhetoric, a weasel word, or anonymous authority, is a word or phrase aimed at creating an impression that something specific and meaningful has been said, when in fact only a vague, ambiguous, or irrelevant claim has been communicated.
One famous example is a poem protesting against Chinese prime minister Li Peng, after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. The poem seemingly showed strong support for the communist-governed China, and was published by the People's Daily in 1991, but when read diagonally, it showed a slogan "Li Peng must resign to appease anger of ...
Do not use similar or related words in a way that blurs meaning or is incorrect or distorting. For example, the adjective Arab refers to people and things of ethnic Arab origin. The term Arabic generally refers to the Arabic language or writing system, and related concepts. Arabian relates to the Arabian Peninsula or historical Arabia.
Also apophthegm. A terse, pithy saying, akin to a proverb, maxim, or aphorism. aposiopesis A rhetorical device in which speech is broken off abruptly and the sentence is left unfinished. apostrophe A figure of speech in which a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience (e.g., in a play) and directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes ...
Poetic diction is the term used to refer to the linguistic style, the vocabulary, and the metaphors used in the writing of poetry.In the Western tradition, all these elements were thought of as properly different in poetry and prose up to the time of the Romantic revolution, when William Wordsworth challenged the distinction in his Romantic manifesto, the Preface to the second (1800) edition ...
Acrostic: a poem in which the first letter of each line spells out a word, name, or phrase when read vertically. Example: “A Boat beneath a Sunny Sky” by Lewis Carroll. Concrete (aka pattern): a written poem or verse whose lines are arranged as a shape/visual image, usually of the topic. Slam; Sound; Spoken-word; Verbless poetry: a poem ...
Tag to be placed at the top of an article. Used for articles that employ weasel words too much. Weasel words are are words and phrases aimed at creating an impression that something specific and meaningful had been said, when in fact only a vague or ambiguous claim has been communicated.
There are people who say weasel words are words intended to, or having the effect of, softening the force of a potentially loaded or otherwise controversial statement, or avoids forming a clear position on a particular issue. Some people say the quintessential example of weasel words is the phrase "Some people say".