Editing Litotes (section)

===Russian===

Perhaps the most common litotes in [[Russian language|Russian]] is {{lang|ru|неплохо}} ('not bad'). Somewhat unusually, it is permissible to say something is {{lang|ru|очень неплохо}} ('very not bad') to signify that it is, in fact, very good. An example of litotes can be found in [[Nikolai Gogol]]'s ''[[The Government Inspector]]'', in which the Mayor says: "There's no such thing as a man with no sins on his conscience", meaning 'All men have sins on their conscience' (Act 1, Scene 1). In this case, it is used to downplay the Mayor's statement – a euphemism of sorts – making it less harsh than its understood meaning.