Friday, September 25, 2026

Soupçon, Fallacy Séries, 6.10

 Another major fallacy of ambiguity is known as amphiboly. It consists of using a grammatically ambiguous sentence to mislead/confuse the audience/reader. 

Standard/well-known examples are "I saw the man with the telescope" or "Visiting relatives can be a headache" or "Flying planes can be dangerous." 

Hence an example of amphiboly as a fallacy can be "The Mayor said, 'Save soap and waste paper." Yet another example can relate to wild life conservation. It reads as "I shot an elephant in the pyjamas " where it could either mean either "I" or the "elephant" was in pyjamas. 

It may sound nonsensical. Absurd poetry as well as advertisements use it often though.

Pratima Agnihotri

No comments:

Post a Comment

Regime!?!

 A Ph. D. scholar must use terms carefully, as she sure should know the technicality behind that usage, right? Well, that is a basic premise...