LOL! I feel like "ruffian" is something you could see in, IDK, Westerns or something -- like, circa early 20th C -- whereas I don't think I have ever seen "poltroon" used in any fiction that was set more recently than... maybe possibly the 1800's, but in my head it's way more associated with Middle Ages - ish historical fiction.
Ahahaha, now that you've read us Leineweber, I have to assume this is another instance of praeteritio: the rhetorical device of calling attention to something negative by seeming to deny it.
Ah! I knew the device of course, but not the name for it.
whereas I don't think I have ever seen "poltroon" used in any fiction that was set more recently than... maybe possibly the 1800's, but in my head it's way more associated with Middle Ages - ish historical fiction.
I guess Narnia is Middle Ages, but learning the word so young did nothing for my sense that this wasn't modern English. :P
I knew the device of course, but not the name for it.
Wikipedia informs me there are like 5 names for it, but praeteritio is the one I learned.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: He's just a soul whose intentions were good: Morgenstern on FW. - B
Date: 2021-03-20 04:44 am (UTC)Ahahaha, now that you've read us Leineweber, I have to assume this is another instance of praeteritio: the rhetorical device of calling attention to something negative by seeming to deny it.
Ah! I knew the device of course, but not the name for it.
Re: He's just a soul whose intentions were good: Morgenstern on FW. - B
Date: 2021-03-20 11:23 pm (UTC)I guess Narnia is Middle Ages, but learning the word so young did nothing for my sense that this wasn't modern English. :P
I knew the device of course, but not the name for it.
Wikipedia informs me there are like 5 names for it, but praeteritio is the one I learned.