Japanese
Japanese employs litotes to phrase ideas in a more indirect and polite manner. Thus, one can indicate necessity by emphasizing that not doing something will not do. For instance, しなければならない (shinakereba naranai, "must") literally means "not doing would be unbecoming". しなければいけません (shinakereba ikemasen, also "must") similarly means "not doing will not go forward".
Of course, indirectness can also be employed to put an edge on one's rudeness as well. "He has studied Japanese, so he should be able to write kanji" can be phrased 彼は日本語を勉強したから漢字で書けないわけがありません (kare wa nihongo o benkyō shita kara kanji de kakenai wake ga arimasen), the rather harsher idea that "As he has studied Japanese, the reasoning that he cannot write Kanji does not exist".
Read more about this topic: Double Negative
Famous quotes containing the word japanese:
“The Japanese do not fear God. They only fear bombs.”
—Jerome Cady, U.S. screenwriter. Lewis Milestone. Yin Chu Ling, The Purple Heart (1944)
“I will be all things to you. Father, mother, husband, counselor, Japanese bartender.”
—Mae West, U.S. screenwriter, W.C. Fields, and Edward Cline. Cuthbert Twillie (W.C. Fields)
“The Japanese have perfected good manners and made them indistinguishable from rudeness.”
—Paul Theroux (b. 1941)