LessonsDefining the Subject by Demonstration: Rhetorical Purposes of DemonstrativesQuiz

التَّعْرِيضُ بِغَبَاوَةِ السَّامِعِ
An indirect insinuation that the hearer is slow to understand.

A speaker may demonstrate a person or group not physically present, speaking as though the addressee needs tangible pointing even for an obvious and familiar matter. This is taʿrīḍ (التعريض): the speaker does not directly say “you are obtuse,” yet the chosen expression suggests it.

Reducing the example to “pointing at a distant object” misses the rhetorical point. The question is why an obvious relationship has been made conspicuous and what that does to the speaker's challenge to the hearer.

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Insinuating that the hearer is obtuse

Defining the Subject by Demonstration: Rhetorical Purposes of Demonstratives

التَّعْرِيضُ بِغَبَاوَةِ السَّامِعِ
An indirect insinuation that the hearer is slow to understand.

A speaker may demonstrate a person or group not physically present, speaking as though the addressee needs tangible pointing even for an obvious and familiar matter. This is taʿrīḍ (التعريض): the speaker does not directly say “you are obtuse,” yet the chosen expression suggests it.

Reducing the example to “pointing at a distant object” misses the rhetorical point. The question is why an obvious relationship has been made conspicuous and what that does to the speaker's challenge to the hearer.