Chleuasmos

An Introduction to Chleuasmos

Chleuasmos (etymologically from the Greek, literally “to make jest of,” or “scoff at”), is a kind of ironyOpens in new window where a scornful or sarcastic remark is thrown against oneself.

Examples of Chleuasmos
  • ‘Stupid me!’ ‘Well! aren't I clumsy!’
    — (Anonymous)
  • ‘A fortnight ago I prepared a Ghost Story to read to you on this occasion. It was a lame affair, because I had to manufacture the whole thing … Perhaps I had better be quite frank and admit that I stole the whole thing out of an old volume of Chums, and adapted it clumsily to a College setting’
    — (Robertson Davies, High Spirits, p. 33).
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