# English understatement > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/English_understatement > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/English_understatement.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_understatement > Source revision: 1352137006 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Element of English culture}} {{Use British English|date=April 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} [Understatement](/source/Understatement) is an aspect of traditional [English culture](/source/English_culture).{{cite book |title=Understatements and Hedges in English |first=Axel |last=Hübler |publisher=[John Benjamins Publishing](/source/John_Benjamins_Publishing) |year=1983 |isbn=978-9027225313}} It has been exploited to humorous effect, but it is also characterised as part of the English cultural attitude to life. == In medieval times == [Old English](/source/Old_English) texts relied extensively upon [wordplay](/source/wordplay) such as understatement and [double negative](/source/double_negative)s;{{Cite web |last=Harper |first=Douglas R. |title=enough (adj. ) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/enough?ref=etymonline_crossreference |website=[Online Etymology Dictionary](/source/Online_Etymology_Dictionary)}} understatement ([litotes](/source/litotes)) is used at least 94 times in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem ''[Beowulf](/source/Beowulf)'', a "high frequency". One author has described this "stylistic mannerism" to be inherited from "an earlier, possibly [common-Germanic](/source/Common_Germanic), poetic tradition";{{Cite journal |last=Bracher |first=Frederick |date=1937 |title=Understatement in Old English Poetry |journal=[PMLA](/source/PMLA_(journal)) |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=915–934 |doi=10.2307/458493 |jstor=458493 |s2cid=164207036 |issn=0030-8129}} he notes that understatement is also found in mediaeval German poetry and [Old Norse](/source/Old_Norse) poetry. Such understatement may have the effect of mocking [irony](/source/irony), humour, [emphasis](/source/Prosodic_stress), and the tempering of an (otherwise rather sharp) expression.{{cite book |last1=Bjork |first1=Robert E. |last2=Niles |first2=John D. |author-link2=John Niles (scholar) |title=A Beowulf Handbook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SaFdpGdjvtoC&pg=PA113 |year=1998 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=0-8032-6150-0 |pages=113–114}} == Culture == {{See also|Culture of England}} thumb|A fictional meeting between Uxbridge and Wellington after the former lost his leg at Waterloo A prominent example of English understatement occurred during the [Battle of Waterloo](/source/Battle_of_Waterloo), where [Lord Uxbridge](/source/Henry_Paget%2C_1st_Marquess_of_Anglesey)'s [right leg](/source/Lord_Uxbridge's_leg) was struck by a French cannonball. Uxbridge, who was near his superior [Lord Wellington](/source/Arthur_Wellesley%2C_1st_Duke_of_Wellington), allegedly exclaimed "By God, sir, I've lost my leg!", to which Wellington supposedly replied "By God, sir, so you have!"{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10181126/The-7th-Marquis-of-Anglesey.html|title=Obituary: The 7th Marquis of Anglesey|newspaper= The Telegraph|date=15 July 2013|access-date=22 February 2014}} During the operation to remove his leg, Uxbridge's only comment was "The knives appear somewhat blunt."{{cite book | title=Staffordshire's Military Heritage | date=15 November 2022 | publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited | isbn=978-1-3981-1012-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udv-EAAAQBAJ }} This attitude of understatement was exemplified by a comment upon [Sarah Bernhardt](/source/Sarah_Bernhardt)'s violent depiction of [Cleopatra](/source/Cleopatra) in the 1891 play of that title: "How different, how very different, from the home life of our own dear [Queen](/source/Queen_Victoria)!" ''[The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations](/source/The_Oxford_Dictionary_of_Quotations)'' judges this critique to be apocryphal.The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, rev. 4th ed., Anonymous, 14:12, which notes that the quote is "probably apocryphal". The ''[Pall Mall Gazette](/source/Pall_Mall_Gazette)'' of 28 December 1906 attributed the reaction as being to a performance of Shakespeare's ''[Anthony and Cleopatra](/source/Anthony_and_Cleopatra)'' starring [Lillie Langtry](/source/Lillie_Langtry), not Bernhardt, "some fifteen years ago," which would have been around 1891. Understatement may be used to convey calmness and self-control to others in a moment of crisis. In 1916, during the opening stages of the [Battle of Jutland](/source/Battle_of_Jutland), [Admiral Beatty](/source/David_Beatty%2C_1st_Earl_Beatty), commander of the [First Battle Cruiser Squadron](/source/1st_Battlecruiser_Squadron), witnessed the explosion of two of his largest [battlecruiser](/source/battlecruiser)s{{Efn|The ''Indefatigable'' and the ''Queen Mary''. Beatty made the comment when it appeared a third ship, HMS ''Princess Royal'' had also been destroyed.}} within half an hour of each other; he is said to have remarked to his subordinate that "there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today".{{cite book |editor-last=Elgin |editor-first=Katherine Z. |date=1997 |title=Nelson Goodman's Theory of Symbols and Its Applications |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHVbiTPytHkC&pg=PA104 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=104 |isbn=978-0-8153-2612-0}} Better documented is the [cross-cultural miscommunication](/source/cross-cultural_communication) between British and American personnel at the [Battle of the Imjin River](/source/Battle_of_the_Imjin_River) during the [Korean War](/source/Korean_War). In April 1951, 650 British troops of the [Gloucestershire Regiment](/source/Gloucestershire_Regiment) were deployed on the most important crossing on the [Imjin River](/source/Imjin_River) to block the traditional invasion route to Seoul. The Chinese [People's Volunteer Army](/source/People's_Volunteer_Army) had sent an entire [division](/source/Division_(military)) of 10,000 men against the isolated British troops in a major offensive to take the whole Korean peninsula, and the defenders were gradually surrounded and overwhelmed. After two days of fighting, American Major General [Robert H. Soule](/source/Robert_H._Soule) asked British Brigadier [Thomas Brodie](/source/Thomas_Brodie): "How are the Glosters doing?" Brodie, with English understatement, replied: "A bit [sticky](/source/Sticky_wicket), things are pretty sticky down there." To Soule, this did not sound desperate, and so he ordered them to stand fast. The surviving Glosters were rescued by a column of tanks; they escaped under fire, sitting on the decks of the tanks.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1316777/The-day-650-Glosters-faced-10000-Chinese.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |title=The day 650 Glosters faced 10,000 Chinese |date=20 April 2001 |url-access=subscription}} In November 1963, as [The Beatles](/source/The_Beatles) were becoming a cultural phenomenon in Britain but were still unknown to the Americans, a photo appeared in the British press showing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison playing [Rickenbacker](/source/Rickenbacker) guitars. Rickenbacker's London distributor, his "urgency cloaked in British understatement," wrote to the company's California headquarters, "This shows both the Rickenbacker's (sic) used by the group I mentioned to you. We'll need samples of both these models, please."{{cite book |last1=Port |first1=Ian S. |title=[The Birth of Loud](/source/The_Birth_of_Loud): Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the guitar-pioneering rivalry that shaped rock 'n' roll |date=2019 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-1-5011-4165-2 |page=194}} During the [Kuala Lumpur](/source/Kuala_Lumpur)–[Perth](/source/Perth) leg of [British Airways Flight 9](/source/British_Airways_Flight_9) on 24 June 1982, [volcanic ash](/source/volcanic_ash) caused all four engines of the [Boeing 747](/source/Boeing_747) aircraft to fail. Although pressed for time as the aircraft rapidly lost altitude, Captain Eric Moody still managed to make an announcement to the passengers: "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress."{{cite book |first=Macarthur |last=Job |author-link=Macarthur Job |title=Air Disaster Volume 2 |publisher=Aerospace Publications |year=1994 |isbn=1-875671-19-6 |pages=96–107}} == Notes == {{Notelist}} == References == {{Reflist}} Category:Culture of England Category:Rhetorical techniques --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [English understatement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_understatement) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_understatement?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.