I initially titled Tuesday's post "The Staff's Position On Unbundling Gets Even Weirder" but I ultimately elected to substitute "More Weird" for "Weirder".  What I was struggling with was whether to use the comparative or periphrastic form of the adjective "weird". The comparative form uses inflection, that is the modification of a word to express a different grammatical meaning.  In this case, the adjective "weird" is inflected by affixing the suffix -er.  Readers of this blog will note that I often mention that Latin is a highly inflected language.  While inflection is not as common in English, it is not unknown.  Periphrasis expresses a meaning by adding words.  See Bear Lake Watch, Inc. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Comm'n, 324 F.3d 1071, 1074 (2003) ("In a magnificent exercise in periphrasis, the FPA then defines "project works" as "the physical structures of a project, . . .").  My periphrasis was to add the word "more" to form the periphrastic equivalent of the comparative adjective "weirder".

The word "periphrasis" is derived from the Greek word, περίφρασις, which means to circumlocute (i.e., say things in a round about way).   E.g., Independent Petroleum Corp. v. Fly, 141 F.2d 189, 190 (5th Cir. 1944) ("Let it be carefully noted that nowhere is the term 'employee' used. In a seemingly studious avoidance of that term the periphrasis 'individual in his employ' is used . . . .").  The estimable H.W. Fowler observed that "periphrasis and civilization are by many held to be inseparable" but he also described periphrasis as a "malady" that "writers should be on the watch for" in their own compositions.  Fowler's Modern English Usage 446 (2d ed. 1965).

Periphrasis should not be confused with the rhetorical device known as paralepsis.  See Paralepsis: Mentioning The Unmentionable.

Emily Dickinson - She never saw a moor but she did write a poem about periphrasis.