Understate Overstate

Ciamar a chanas mi.... / How do I say...
semaphore
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Understate Overstate

Unread post by semaphore »

Hello

I've been having difficulty talking about "understate", "overstate". Does anyone have any good idioms or guidance on these ideas? For context

Understated dress: From this I can extrapolate subtle, under praised. Obviously this specific example could be "dressed down" in English so for clarity "an understated idea not cited enough."
The benefit is way overstated: From this I can extrapolate exggerated or overly praised.

I'd thought about how these might relate to underrated/overrated in terms of under or over valued / respected. From here I could string something together but I'd be too unsure to be confident.


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GunChleoc
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Re: Understate Overstate

Unread post by GunChleoc »

Oileanach chànan chuthachail
Na dealbhan agam
semaphore
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Re: Understate Overstate

Unread post by semaphore »

I can't seem to find another source for ro-spèis on the internet or in any of my other dictionaries. Since language can be conjured out of thin air and it's a valid use of "ro" I can accept it but it has an asterisk next to it in my brain. There's also "luach" which sounds far more likely to "work" to me.

Tha spèis mhòr aig x do y -- high regard
Tha luach ro mhòr ga chur air -- over valued (overrated/overstate?)
Tha spèis ro mhòr aig x do y -- too highly regarded (overrated?)
Tha spèis ìosal/bheag aig x do y -- little regard
Tha luach ro bheag ga chur air -- under valued (underrated/understate?)
Tha spèis ro ìosal aig x do y -- too little regard (underrated?)

tha luach fada ro mhòr air a chur air a' bhunnachd -- The benefit is way overstated

Seems clean enough. The question is do these examples above sit somewhere inbetween over/understate over/underrate since it's a subjective idea, there's a sort of "in my estimation" thing going on. Going back to my previous post, "an understated idea not cited enough":

beachd-smuain ann an spèis ro ìosal nach molar mar is còir.

I'm not really sure what this "ann an" is, obviously spèis is a noun, so that reads to me like "an idea is low regard". Some examples of how "ann an" is being used as shown in the examples you linked to would be helpful.

beachd-smuain aig a bheil spèis ro ìosal nach molar mar is còir.

Would make more intuitive sense to me grammatically but I may be losing something in the periphery with "aig".

beachd-smuain aig a bheil dì-spèis nach molar mar is còir.
beachd-smuain aig a bheil ro-spèis a mholar ro thric.
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MacFhraing
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Re: Understate Overstate

Unread post by MacFhraing »

I feel like 'luach' and 'spèis' are okay but they don't quite hit what you're saying in English. I'd use 'suim'.

"Tha suim ro mhòr/bheag ga cur anns a' bheachd gu bheil..."

I've never heard or read 'ro-spèis', but that's just me!

The way you pronounce 'ro mhòr' is important too. 'Ro-mhòr' with the hyphen means 'very big', and has greater stress on the 'ro' than 'ro mhòr' .i. 'too big'.

Tha mi an dòchas gu bheil feum air choireigin anns a sin!
GunChleoc
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Re: Understate Overstate

Unread post by GunChleoc »

"suim" sounds good to me too. You could also look into usaged of "meas"
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Re: Understate Overstate

Unread post by semaphore »

Taing 'son innse. The way I use suim has a sort of "take on board/considered" meaning that has a ton of applications in English but I didn't consider it for this, ironically. It's of course a synonym of meas and spèis too. With beag/mòr it hits me as "overboard" "underboard", which isn't a word so context is key.

To go back to my OP, I feel like I've accidentally touched on a range of things.

An understated idea not often cited -- Maybe this as an example was broken from the get-go before it even gets to Gaelic. 's e th' ann am beachd-smuain gun suim

I saw that film it's overratted -- chan eil e cho math sin. Bidh daoine a' gabhail suim ro mhòr ris.

Her dress was understated -- As a man I'm not sure I even know what this means any more but dreasa gun chudthrom. Since something that's understated is often also the very thing that's implied should be the center of attention.
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