Typical English understatement

Question

I found this in my dictionary. I think it can be interpreted either understatement in English or English(British) understatement. My dictionary interprets as the latter.

If there are examples of the latter, can you give me some? If you know American(or other country's) understatement, that's fine too.

Canderson · Accepted Answer

I can give you an American response, but I don't know what your question is. Which statement contains the understatement?

Moon7296 · Answer

Hi,

I didn't include any statement because there was none. And I was just wonder if there's anything coming in your mind when you here 'American or British understatement'

Canderson · Answer

OK, now I understand what you're getting at.

There is a link here to show some examples of understatement in English:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understatement

Sometimes we call things by the opposite of what/who they are:

Hey Shawna is kind of big, don't you think?

No, she's just big-boned!

I am not quite sure if it is an understatement or not but the dead parrot skit from Monty Python where John Cleese is trying to return a dead parrot to a pet store is hilarious. I was in tears the first time I saw this. Check it out here:

Enjoy!

-Chris

Clive · Answer

Hi,

If I may generalize wildly, I'd say that understatement is much more common in Britain than in the USA. Perhaps this is what you are asking about?

Clive

Canderson · Answer

I'd agree with Clive. I think understatement is something sort of unique to the UK and is a cornerstone of their marvelous and witty sense of humor. It makes me crack up!<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' alt='Emotion: big smile'/>

Moon7296 · Answer

Thank you all.

After seeing one of examples('English understatement') of understatement in my dictionary I thought there may be understatement used in Britain and other countries differently

.

I wanted to catch understatement used from the video clip but I could hardly understand

There's a long way to go to understand native speakers' conversation-.-;

Canderson · Answer

Hey Moon,

You can follow along with the video with the script you'll find here.

Don't feel bad about not understanding, it's a heavily accented British accent. I think John Cleese is speaking a fake sort of cockney accent.

-Chris

Typical English understatement

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