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Comments on How can fulsome constitute "a case of ironic understatement"?

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How can fulsome constitute "a case of ironic understatement"?

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Pretend that you're Devil's Advocate. 1. How can you possibly contend that fulsome is "a case of ironic understatement"?

  1. What's ironic?

  2. What's fulsome understating?

"fulsome" feels redundant for 2 reasons.

  1. If something's FULL (e.g. a cup of water), then it's physically impossible to add anything (let alone -SOM "to a considerable degree" — or something) to it.

  2. Fullness implies the notion of "to a considerable degree". If you own a full tank of petrol, then you have petrol to a considerate degree!

fulsome (adj.)

mid-13c., "abundant, plentiful," Middle English compound of ful "full" (see full (adj.)) + -som "to a considerable degree" (see -some (1)). Perhaps a case of ironic understatement. Sense extended to "plump, well-fed" (mid-14c.), then "arousing disgust" (similar to the feeling of having over-eaten), late 14c. Via the sense of "causing nausea" it came to be used of language, "offensive to taste or good manners" (early 15c.); especially "excessively flattering" (1660s). Since the 1960s, however, it commonly has been used in its original, favorable sense, especially in fulsome praise.

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A request for "devil's advocate" answers seems contrary to the spirit of this site. People come here ... (2 comments)
x-post https://www.reddit.com/r/englishteachers/comments/vgn2tx/how_can_fulsome_constitute_a_case_of_... (1 comment)
x-post https://www.reddit.com/r/literature/comments/vgn306/how_can_fulsome_constitute_a_case_of_ironi... (1 comment)
x-post https://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/comments/vgn3fo/how_can_fulsome_constitute_a_case_of_ironic/ (1 comment)
x-post https://www.reddit.com/r/englishmajors/comments/vgn3jm/how_can_fulsome_constitute_a_case_of_ir... (1 comment)
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