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I don’t know how to translate it in English, but in Italian there’s a specific term: Cleuasmo.

It’s a rhetorical device meant to captivate the audience by humility.




To add context, is a type of captatio benevolentia (“obtaining benevolence/captivating”) and as such is typically placed at the start of a discussion.

Someone uses cleuasms (I’m gonna create a word by inferring a translation) many times in a discussion. Pay attention: this unsolicited and reiterated form of humbleness can be too much. If you shouldn’t have right for a statement, apply suspension instead ;)




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