# overstatement/ understatement



## suma

Some help please with these 2 phrases:

1. French cuisine is the world's most fatty food. 
That's an over statement.
هذا وصف يزيد عن الواقع


2. The Republicans are reluctant to raise taxes.
That's an under statement.
??


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## إسكندراني

I don't think we have 'overstatement/understatement'. You could say هذه مبالغة


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## Bahraini Translator

1.هذا وصفٌ مبالغٌ فيه = overstatement

2. هذا تصريحٌ مكبوت/مكبوح = understatement



> عدم المبالغة Understatement:
> يترجم المرحوم منير بعلبكي، في معجمه الجيّد " المورد"،  هذا المصطلح الإنجليزي بـ ( التصريح المكبوت)،
> أي:" تصريحٌ مقصودٌ به أن  يصوّر الفكرة على نحوٍ أضعف أو أقلّ مما تقتضيه الحقيقة".
> ويقابل ذلك  (المبالغة) أو (المغالاة Overstatement
> وهو تصريح مقصود به أن يصوّر  الفكرة على نحوٍ أقوى أو أكثر مما تقتضيه الحقيقة.


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## suma

Only 2 replies?
"Overstatement" is easier, I think *waSf* or *taSree7 mubaalag *works just fine.

"Understatement" as when someone is trying to be kind or gentle in their description or statement so they may use a word or adjective that is less forceful than perhaps the actual situation.

overstatement = exaggeration = مبالغة
Neither language seems to have a direct antonym.


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## cherine

Overstatement is clearly easy to translate: مُبالَغة. The problem is with "understatement".

I found تصريح مكبوت/مكبوح in al-Mawrid dictionary as Bahraini Translator gave, but I've never heard it or read it before, and I doubt it would be understood by everyone.
Another dictionary, Atlas, give these meanings: 
1) تصريح أو كشف غير كامل أو شامل 2) كبت أو افتقار إلى التأكيد في التعبير، كما في التأثير البلاغي 3) تحفُّظ في التعبير الفني
For the verb "to understate", they give:
1) يذكر لكن ليس بالتحديد أو دون ذكر الحقيقة البادية في الحقائق 2) يُعبِّر بتحفُّظ أو دون تشديد، خاصةً بِتَهَكُّم 3) يذكر أو يُصَرِّح (بكمية) منخفضة للغاية

How about مجامَلة ? I think it can work in some contexts.


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## إسكندراني

cherine said:


> How about مجامَلة ? I think it can work in some contexts.


I can't find a standard one for 'understatement'. Could you give examples for مجاملة?


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## Gendy

The Republicans are reluctant to raise taxes.
That's an under statement.
الجمهوريون غير عازمين على رفع الضرائب. هذا رياء

As  per MACMILLAN English Dictionary, Understatement: a statement that makes something seem less important, serious, big etc than it really is. 
(This example is written in the dictionary) To say that Jordan is a good player is understatement.
القول بأن جوردن لاعب جيد هو رياء
القول بأن جوردن لاعب جيد من الرياء

"Understatement" as when someone is trying to be kind or gentle in their  description or statement so they may use a word or adjective that is  less forceful than perhaps the actual situation.  (رياء)


Neither language seems to have a direct antonym !
Although "under" is antonym of "over" , I feel that "understatement" is not antonym of "overstatement". Is it?


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## Abu Talha

How about وصف قاصر جدا عن الحقيقة or وصف فيه تقصير?


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## Gendy

daee said:


> How about وصف قاصر جدا عن الحقيقة or وصف فيه تقصير?



As per Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Understatement: a statement that is not strong enough to express how good, bad, impressive etc something really is.
(And this example is written) To say the movie was bad                            is an understatement.
القول بأن الفيلم كان سيئاً هو غبن
القول بأن الفيلم كان سيئاً من الغبن
القول بأن الفيلم كان سيئاً غبنٌ

Now, I feel that "understatement" is antonym of "overstatement" Is not it?

So "understatement" means " رياء riyaa " or " غبن ghobn " ? 
I do not know, the situation became fairly confused (for me).


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## إسكندراني

رياء only has one meaning that I know and that is 'showing off'. Understatement never means that at all; so this suggestion is wrong.
غبن means that one has overlooked certain things, worth considering maybe but I think it's not a translation for understatement.
Sorry Gendy!

This word is one of those I struggle to find an equivalent for in Arabic (maybe because we only overstate?) but we could say
 برود في التعبير
تعبير أضعف من الحقيقة
تصريح مكبوت (I think this is understandable, contrary to what has been suggested, though that means 'suppressed' so there is some scope for confusion - people could think it is someone else suppressing the speaker, not the speaker himself).



daee said:


> How about وصف قاصر جدا عن الحقيقة or وصف فيه تقصير?



It's plausible to use this, but one could misinterpret it as the speaker not meeting his obligations - which feels different.


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## Gendy

إسكندراني said:


> رياء only has one meaning that I know and that is 'showing off'.



Never


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## suma

daee said:


> How about *وصف قاصر جدا عن الحقيقة* or وصف فيه تقصير?



This I think is the best suggestion yet!


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## suma

Gendy,

رياء
for understatement, struck me as very strange and hard to believe that it was the an accurate translation. But I'd rather wait to see what other native speakers have to say.

This definition given above is the basic meaning: _*Understatement*: a statement that is not strong enough to express how good, bad, impressive etc something really is.
_


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## Abu Talha

I'm just wondering why the word تصريح has been suggested. Doesn't it mean to make something expressly clear, and cause the expression تصريح مكبوت to be something of an oxymoron? 

Here is how الوسيط defines صرّح:


> (صَرَّحَ) الشيءُ: انكَشَفَ وَظَهَرَ. يقال: صَرَّحَ الحقُّ.* وصرّحت الخمرُ: انجلى زَبَدُها فخلصت. و- النهارُ: ذهب سَحابُه وأَضاءَت شمسُه*. و - الأمْرَ: أظْهَرَهُ. و- بالأمْرِ: أدْلى به.


(Emphasis added, to show analogy.)


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## إسكندراني

تصريح in the modern language means 'to make a statement'. It is therefore not an oxymoron to say تصريح غير واضح. Clarification is توضيح.
Even your definition says صرح بالأمر = أدلى به


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## cherine

I wouldn't use رياء at all here. This word is like "showing off", doing something to impress people or to give a certain idea that is not necessarily true. And it's contrary to doing something ابتغاء وجه الله . It's like giving charity in front of others just so that people would say you're a generous person; when you wouldn't give charity if there was no "audience" around.

I like وصف قاصر , that's a good suggestion 

تصريح is used for "statement", so I wouldn't use it in just any context. And understatement can be simply a description of something, not necessarily a statement concerning that thing.


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## Gendy

suma said:


> رياء
> for understatement, struck me as very strange and hard to believe that it was the an accurate translation.


The word الرياء has another meaning, which I used in my sentence; the meaning is "insincerity"
Please follow this link 
http://www.wordreference.com/enar/insincerity
Or look it up in any dictionary
Insincerity = رياء   = نفاق

The Republicans are reluctant to raise taxes.
 That's an understatement. (That is insincerity)
الجمهوريون غير عازمين على رفع الضرائب. هذا رياء ( هذا نفاق)

To say that Jordan is a good player is an understatement. (is insincerity)
القول بأن جوردن لاعب جيد من الرياء (من النفاق)

To say the movie was bad is an understatement. (is insincerity)
القول بأن الفيلم كان سيئاً من الرياء ( من النفاق)


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## Gendy

cherine said:


> I wouldn't use رياء at all here. This word is like "showing off", doing something to impress people or to give a certain idea that is not necessarily true. And it's contrary to doing something ابتغاء وجه الله . It's like giving charity in front of others just so that people would say you're a generous person; when you wouldn't give charity if there was no "audience" around.


أنا لا أعني الرياء بالمفهوم الإسلامي ، أنا أعني الرياء بالمفهوم العام للكلمة ، بمعنى نفاق


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## إسكندراني

النفاق is never a good translation for 'understatement'; an intentionally misguiding statement is closer to what I think you're thinking...
An understatement is often unintentional, especially amongst English speakers.


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## cherine

Yes, and understatement is not the same thing as insincerity. So, again, I have to insist that using الرياء is not correct here.


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## Gendy

cherine said:


> Yes, and understatement is not the same thing as insincerity. So, again, I have to insist that using الرياء is not correct here.



That is understatement.
هذا اغفال للحق

No problem madam, forget it, maybe we will find accurate meaning for "understatement", one day.


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## إسكندراني

I have some more suggestions: تقليل or تخفيف or تهوين
we can then say من غفلة or غير مرغوب فيه or عن سهو to clarify if it was unintentional.


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## Abu Talha

إسكندراني said:


> I have some more suggestions: تقليل or تخفيف or تهوين
> we can then say من غفلة or غير مرغوب فيه or عن سهو to clarify if it was unintentional.


I was searching online for مصطلحات بلاغية and تقليل is a defined term in that field for the rhetoric figure of speech meiosis, which may be similar to "understatement".


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