Lapalissade

A lapalissade is an obvious truth—i.e. a truism or tautology—which produces a comical effect. It is derived from the name Jacques de la Palice, and the word is used in several languages.

Origin

La Palice's epitaph reads

"Ci-gît le Seigneur de La Palice: s'il n'était pas mort, il ferait encore envie."

("Here lies the Seigneur de La Palice: If he weren't dead, he would still be envied.")

These words were misread (accidentally or intentionally) as "...il ſerait [serait] encore en vie" ("...he would still be alive"), where the long s aids in the confusion. In the 16th century this misreading was incorporated into a popular satirical song, and in time many other variants developed, including "... que deux jours avant sa mort / il était encore en vie" ("... that two days before his death / he was still quite alive") and "... et quand il était tout nu, / il n'avait point de chemise" ("... and when he was stark naked / he didn't wear a shirt").

In the early 18th century Bernard de la Monnoye collected over 50 of these humorous "La Palice" quatrains, and published them as a burlesque "Song of La Palice". From that song came the French term lapalissade meaning an utterly obvious truth—i.e. a truism or tautology, and it was borrowed into several other languages. Since that day, when you say something very obvious, your interlocutor answers: "La Palice would have said as much!" (in French: "La Palice en aurait dit autant!").

Similar terms

In Spanish culture, an analog is a folkloric character Pedro Grullo (Perogrullo) with his perogrulladas: "Verdad de Pedro Grullo, que a la mano cerrada, la llama puño" (The truth of Pedro Grullo, when his hand is closed, he calls it a fist).

In English, one might reference "Captain Obvious" as having spoken a self-evident truth. Other kinds of trite expressions are "platitude" and "bromide".