Understated or overstated

On MSNBC earlier today, a reporter pointed out that Tim Walz is the first Democratic vice presidential candidate in sixty years without a law degree. “It cannot be understated,” she said.

No, it cannot be overstated, said I. But the more I thought about the phrasing, the more I came to think that it’s inherently, unhelpfully ambiguous. Here’s a post that explains.

Ways out: “it’s important to recognize that,” “it’s not to be overlooked that,” &c.

Still, it helps to bear in mind that in Google’s Ngram Viewer, “it cannot be overstated” far outnumbers “it cannot be understated” in American English, British English, and “English.” And thus it cannot be overstated that “it cannot be understated” will most likely be understood as infelicitous phrasing.