Posted by Jay Livingston
. . . But what is it? Is there a word for a statement that contradicts the assertion in the statement? For example, one of Trump’s better lines at the Gridiron Club was this.
| My staff was concerned that I couldn’t do self-deprecating humor, and I told them not to worry, nobody does self-deprecating humor better than me. It’s not even close. |
Not a new joke, but a good one, especially for Trump.
Calling it self-contradiction does not really convey the delightful irony. Trump contradicts himself all the time, but usually the contradiction is not inherent in the statement itself as it is in this instance.
It’s kinda sorta like apophasis (my favorite rhetorical term), but it’s different. I posted about it last summer (here) with Magritte’s painting and this unwitting example that was going around the Internet.
I still haven’t found le mot juste for it.
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