{"id":2541,"date":"2015-04-10T20:46:19","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T20:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eoisabi.org\/?p=2541"},"modified":"2026-04-12T21:55:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T21:55:37","slug":"not-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/englishroam.com\/?p=2541","title":{"rendered":"Not bad!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Unlike Spaniards, who are prone to exaggeration<\/a><\/strong> in their\u00a0everyday\u00a0remarks, Britons (not Americans!) tend to prefer understatements<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0Take a movie: while it may well be appraised as ‘Great!’<\/strong> or ‘Brilliant!<\/strong>‘ by a Spanish national, it might simply be assessed as ‘Not bad’<\/strong> (not less appraisal to be inferred from the lips of a British speaker)<\/p>\n

An understatement is a way of making a situation seem less important than it actually is. It can also serve to make a comment less strong or less offensive. Understatement is used in many places across the English language, including in comedy, to downplay the seriousness of a situation, and to be polite.<\/p>\n

An understatement can be just the thing to make someone feel better. For example, if you are a terrible dancer and everyone seems to be pointing and laughing at you, your friend might say your style is unique. She’s not lying, but she is making sad truth easier to deal with. Understatement can also be used humorously \u2014 if you have a really difficult, scary experience, you might say, \u00abWell, that was interesting.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u221a Click on the joke for more humorous CARTOONS<\/strong> \u21d2<\/p>\n

\u21d0<\/span><\/strong> More examples of understatement . . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u221a \u00a0Quiz\u21d2\u00a0Match understatements & exaggerations<\/a>\u21d0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u221a \u00a0Click \u00a0for examples of exaggeration\u00a0 \u21d3<\/p>\n

\"figures<\/a><\/p>\n

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