Succinct words
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 - 12:41pm
What are your favorite succinct words, English or otherwise?
The Guinness Book of World Records says this is the most succinct:
- Mamihlapinatapai
- A look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start. This could perhaps be translated more succinctly as "eye-contact implying 'after you...'". A more literal approximation is "ending up mutually at a loss as to what to do about each other".
Note: most German compound nouns don't count since they really are just a smushing together of mostly whole words. Schadenfreude is fine, but Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, not so much.
Also known as the awkward moment leading up to the loss of virginity.
Letters to the Internet
The old stalwart, "anthropomorphic" for me.
Pistols for two and coffee for one.
Gamertag
"Defenestration" has always been my favourite word, succinct or otherwise.
If you can't be a good example, at least be a horrible warning.
Taghairm: Divination by lying in the hide of a bullock under a waterfall
Properispomenon: An accent on the third to last syllable of a word.
It will do good to heart and head
When your soul is in my soul's stead;
And I will friend you, if I may,
In the dark and cloudy day.
- AE Houseman, trailblazing XBL user
XBox Live
Callipygian: having beautifully proportioned buttocks
Xbox Live: Stilgar Black
Colpocoquette. Widdershins. Lugubrious (clam bake!).
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
Spore
Oi!
Meaning (roughly), "What the hell are you doing in my seat, drinking my beer and chatting up my girlfriend? You and me are going to step outside where we will discuss appropriate behaviour in public situations (where 'discuss' means I'm going to give you a pounding)."
MechaSlinky wrote:
-on L4DIt seems early to declare a winner, but I'm tempted.
XBox Live: Croutonic | Bungie.net: Croutonic
kaostheory wrote:
Pleonasm. In actual fact, the end result of the excessive overuse of pleonasms is the polar opposite of succinctness.
I'm like a flashing lightning and a rolling thunder, I'm like a stepping razor
Mammaquatia.
"The real toy is imagination, it turn sticks into sword, chairs & blankets into forts and kids into heroes." - RedJen
XBox Live / PSN: jonnypolite | twitter
Can I play?? I even used this word today. Its a personal favorite....
malfeasance
"Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda
Oogaba
Fedaykin98 wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
"Suck what?"
Had to be done
ThePolypusher
WAR - Dolz
Reminded me of my long time favorite Fahrtreppenbenutzungshinweise, or the "advice on how to use the escalator". It's a small poster stuck on every escalator in Vienna.
You can't take the sky from me.
Badong
Xbox Live : Aries GWJ PSN : AriesGWJ Spore : Ariesgwj
Killing is badong.
XBLive: Thin J
PSN: Thin_J
I don't imagine master craftsmen leaping away from completed projects and shouting "Done, motherf*ckers! - 1Dgaf
sacrament
duplicity
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
Cunnilingus. A hobby and a sport.
Rock Band Name Generator!... too funny to merely be coincidence.
"Truly, this mishap has set back the swamp sciences several years." - H.P. Lovesauce, lamenting a tragedy.
Should we consider the two as separate? Parts of a whole? One as derivative of the other?
Quote:
XBL Tag: Prederick
sh*t.
There are times where that single word desribes a book full of emotion.
"Also, I have four legs and am covered in wool. Baa!" *Legion* reveals his inner furry.
Antidisestablishmentarianism. I still have no idea what the frell that word means after 18 or so years of being able to spell it, but I still love it.
"I'm absolutely retarded. Not 100% sure why." - atom
"Dhelor + intarwebs = Great ideas." - wordsmythe
"Do I what I do: hate everyone." - Quintin_Stone
Flemish, the Belgian dialect of Dutch, has lots of words that feel and sound like its meaning:
goesting (noun) = the feeling of liking to do something, or simply: feeling horny
geroezemoes (noun) = the sound of people whispering
korosje (noun) = having goesting to do work
gosselen (verb) = to spill
There are many others I forget now
Also, I love the word whippersnapper!
Roo: "Just to cheer you up if any of the above made you sad: Boobies."
Koning_Floris, on my online 'skills': "Stinking is a skill too!"
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
Spore
Absquatulate: to exit, stealthily; to go and squat elsewhere.
The brain you stole, Fritz. Think of it. The brain of a dead man waiting to live again in a body I made with my own hands!
http://isisless.deviantart.com/
XBOX LIVE: AtomicVideoHead
I'm particularly fond of "bastion". It implies so much!
Mystic Violet wrote:
Santorum.
XBox Live: ChrisLTD | Live Messenger: ChrisLTD at hotmail dot com | Steam: ChrisLTD | Wii Code: 6445 2828 5100 8399
Was that really necessary? I was just eating when I read that -_-
If you can't be a good example, at least be a horrible warning.
Rick Santorum deserves to live in shame. So yes, it's very necessary
XBox Live: ChrisLTD | Live Messenger: ChrisLTD at hotmail dot com | Steam: ChrisLTD | Wii Code: 6445 2828 5100 8399
Eschatological: Pertaining to the end of the world; world-ending. "The Death Star was a weapon of eschatological power." See also: How to destroy the Earth
Theodicy
XBox Live: Croutonic | Bungie.net: Croutonic
kaostheory wrote: