B is for The Broad Floute

Ok, so this is cheating a bit. The Broad Floute is really just George Puttenham, Renaissance scholar, slapping a neat English title on the Greek term antiphrasis (an Ti phra sis). It literally means, in Greek, "expression by the opposite," and as a figure (trope) it is "irony of one word."

I guarantee you've used this one: "You're a real genius!" There's nothing unusual about this sentence, except I'd warrant in most instances it's used the sense is more accurately "you're a real idiot." The irony of the entire clause depends on the one word, "genius." You might call your short friend "Stretch" or your fat friend "Slim." 

Puttenham's examples, in addition to providing the wonderful English name, are wonderfully lyrical: "Or when we deride by plain and flat contradiction, as he that saw a dwarf go in the street said to his companion that walked with him, "See yonder giant.""

I think a key term here in Puttenham is "deride," for The Broad Floute and its ironic edge is almost always used derisively, do reduce or oppose something. It's a sneaky device, as it isn't as obvious as schematic figures which are more obvious. We need to tune our ears to it in discerning ways. 

Enough of me, what are your favourite examples of Ye Broad Floute?