In rhetoric, emotive or emotional conjugation mimics the form of a grammatical conjugation of an irregular verb to illustrate humans' tendency to describe their own behavior more charitably than the behavior of others. It is often called the Russell conjugation in honour of philosopher Bertrand Russell who expounded the concept in 1948 on the BBC Radio programme The Brains Trust, citing the examples:
I am firm, You are obstinate, He is a pig-headed fool.
I am righteously indignant, you are annoyed, he is making a fuss over nothing.
Used seriously, such loaded language can lend false support to an argument by obscuring a fallacy of meaning. The inherent incongruity also lends itself to humor, as employed by Bernard Woolley in the BBC television series Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister:
It's one of those irregular verbs, isn't it?
I have an independent mind, You are eccentric, He is round the twist.
That's another of those irregular verbs, isn't it?
I give confidential press briefings; you leak; he's being charged under section 2A of the Official Secrets Act.