A phrop is an attempted
neologism
In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
used to indicate a polite statement used in social contexts where the true meaning is the opposite of what is expressed. An example is the parting comment ''We must have lunch sometime'', meaning ''We don't particularly want to meet again''. The term was coined by mountaineer
Sir Arnold Lunn
Sir Arnold Henry Moore Lunn (18 April 1888 – 2 June 1974) was a skier, mountaineer and writer. He was knighted for "services to British Skiing and Anglo-Swiss relations" in 1952. His father was a lay Methodist minister, but Lunn was an agn ...
. It has not entered common use.
See also
*
Antiphrasis
Antiphrasis is the rhetorical device of saying the opposite of what is actually meant in such a way that it is obvious what the true intention is.
Some authors treat and use antiphrasis just as irony, euphemism or litotes.
When the antiphrasal ...
*
Autantonym
*
Euphemism
A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
References
*
Geoffrey T. Hellman, The Talk of the Town, "Phrop Collector", ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', 20 December 1952, p. 2
* Arnold Henry Moore Lunn, "Memory to memory", Hollis & Carter, 1956, p. 12
* Philip Howard, "The State of the Language", Penguin Books, 1984, , pp. 115–117
* "Modern manners"", ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', 13 November 200
Figures of speech
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