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The wordsmith wants a word with YOU.

rufus_hobartrufus_hobart Member Posts: 490
in Off-Topic
*title stolen from a poem by Adam Ford.

Hey all, seeing as Baldur's Gate is a very text intensive game, naturally this forum is full of creative types and whatnot - writers, artists, coders, and generally altogether cluey folks - i gotta say, it's humbling when you realise that high schoolers are already smarter than you - *glares at @meagloth and @crevsDaak* - i'm a little curious about words - specifically, favourite words of yours. Words you like saying, hearing, or just can't resist dropping into conversation much to the annoyance of everyone else.

Phrases are also welcome, and I'm particularly looking forward to hearing those in languages other than English....preferably with a translation for those of us to stupid to learn more than a few phrases in more than one language, i.e. me! ;-)

So I'll kick it off, with the word "fecund" - yes, i could just use "fertile", but this has a really earthy kind of feel to it for me, a natural and pleasurable to say tone, kind of just rolls off the tongue and feels ultra-descriptive..and of course, sounds kinda rude in a sense, kile swearing which always appeals to the giggling teenager in me.

So, any more for any more?

Comments

  • rufus_hobartrufus_hobart Member Posts: 490
    Isandir said:

    Some words are simply superfluous, which I find highly vexing, particularly in cases in which uncouth louts regurgitate locution ill-suited to urbane discourse.

    I like a lot of words. I just don't like to use them unless I want to sound like an @$$.

    hehe, exceedingly well played, Sir.
  • rufus_hobartrufus_hobart Member Posts: 490
    thank you Crevs, I was hoping for language relating to coding if you gave a response, your interest and passion is quite contagious even for someone like me whose brain can't quite get around more than the most basic concepts!
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    I have a great, abiding fondness for isolation-produced patois/pidgins/creol dialects. I spent several summers working with migrant labourers, so I picked up the basics. The anachronisms are truly fascinating; many patois speakers likely would find Chaucer easier to grasp than a native speaker, I suspect. Not perfectly mind you, but to a native speaker of modern English, Middle English can be like another language.

    Anywho, my first word is cloak... meaning a rain jacket.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    gad
    the only one I can think of at the moment. . . that's PG13.
  • dunbardunbar Member Posts: 1,603
    Back in the days when I thought I was clever I used to describe myself as being 'mattoid', meaning part genius and part fool (or someone on the edge of madness). Nowadays I'm just a fool but I still like the word just for being there.
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    @dunbar you could go with idiot savant maybe? You'd need to have a specialty though. And like counting things. And sorting your M&Ms by colour.
  • rufus_hobartrufus_hobart Member Posts: 490
    edited August 2014
    "-Entropy (I know, I should have left this one to @EntropyXII‌, but I like it quite much, since it's the way to describe a total vacuum that holds the infinity of existence but without it being existent…)

    -Bloodlust (IDK, it just seems like a cool concept putting the lust concept--which I also find interesting--and the word blood together, I don't think I gotta add more...)"

    "My two favorite words in the English language are entropy and chaos..."

    Is it just me, or does anyone else get a mental picture of 10 years time of CrevsDaak and Meagloth in 2 different labs competing to see who can engineer the end of the world faster? ;-)
  • rufus_hobartrufus_hobart Member Posts: 490
    DreadKhan said:

    I have a great, abiding fondness for isolation-produced patois/pidgins/creol dialects. I spent several summers working with migrant labourers, so I picked up the basics. The anachronisms are truly fascinating; many patois speakers likely would find Chaucer easier to grasp than a native speaker, I suspect. Not perfectly mind you, but to a native speaker of modern English, Middle English can be like another language.

    Anywho, my first word is cloak... meaning a rain jacket.

    Totally agreed, after getting to read Chaucer in his (i believe) original language at uni, it took me a long long time to get my head around it, but once i did, I really enjoyed it, made his tales come to life a lot more and the language flowed as was intended which aided the storytelling...but an interesting point you make about pidgin languages, and one I agree with, those who speak such dialects tend to be far mor adaptable when confronted with other languages as they pick up phrases and meanings from all over the place and simplify them- mind you English i believe is the great scavenger of words from other languages, or as that stunning thinker George W Bush once reportedly said: "The problem with the French is that they have no word for entrepreneur," a sentence that still fills me with joy every time i read it.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
    meagloth said:

    My two favorite words are entropy and chaos.

    FEATURE REQUEST: Change @meagloth‌ 's picture into Haer'Dalis!
  • old_jolly2old_jolly2 Member Posts: 453
    edited August 2014
    CrevsDaak said:

    where the center of the universe could be, definitely deserves a mention

    When I had an argument with my professor he said universe can not have a center. It is just something I could not understand. But here it is. Well done. To find the center of the universe though , you could need first a new method ( 4th dimension may be ? ) and very sensistive measuring equipment.

    I'm going to go far on this one. I used to write a little about a fantasy of mine , and I had developped a language for it. So , if it is wordsmithing we are talking about , here you are :

    Midjelbah : Hooked Sun
    Ir Rikistah : The Unshakeable ( name of a collosal starship )
    Ope : A tobacco like , purple veined , gray leaved plant
    Sa Serejznita : 'ıs Homesickness' ( name of a big starship )
    Ir Atyd : The Disruptor
    Il Datir : The Guest
    In Tanis : The Blue
    Ir Vivan : The Red
    Anté Sheen : Fleet Command
    Monurul : Chain Council
    Il Permora : The Overloading Light ( name of the existence in the center of the universe :) )
    Tandem : Breaking Power

    Post edited by old_jolly2 on
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Depends on what you mean by center. Seeing as everything observable tends to orbit something else with much higher gravity, the 'center' from that perspective could be found via observstion. That said, anything entire galaxies orbit would need mindboggling amounts of mass, ie be magnitudes bigger than the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. :s

    Word: Verdigris: this is a wonderfully euphonic word, meaning the green copper oxide thst forms on old copper and some of its alloys. A beautiful word for a beautiful gift of nature.
  • old_jolly2old_jolly2 Member Posts: 453
    @DreadKhan The Law of Gravity , as so they say , in my opinion and obvious , is not a law yet in 'human interpretation' of it. I of course do not deny that gravity exists , I just state here that , they can't even describe the k constant there , leave alone how the gravity occurs.

    So , on your statement , the center of the universe need not necessarily be attractive , it may be repulsive as well , considering the expansion of the universe. The things need to be known here are vast before making assumptions , I don't say anything certain , but I certainly discourage anyone from doing so too in the opposite way , like there is no center of the universe. Because , there is no proof for that too.

    I once thought about a possible 4th dimension , because to explain gravity you have to look beyond the 3 i suspect , as solely in 3 , the physics rules known to date fail to describe it. 4th dimension may bear a different ruleset for this , as an orthogonal dimension is also seems necessary , if we are 'free' , not robots. Otherwise we couldn't have acted or be acting independently in just 3 , it would be just a set of collision routes of electrons in our brain and the stimulants triggering them , etc.

    In sake of remaining in the post topic , let me add another word , this time from known ones :

    Fire. When I feel like thinking something to type on youtube i always find this word attractive and attach something after it , like fire initiative , fire disruption , ...
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    DreadKhan said:



    Word: Verdigris: this is a wonderfully euphonic word, meaning the green copper oxide thst forms on old copper and some of its alloys. A beautiful word for a beautiful gift of nature.

    @DreadKhan‌ thank you for this. Copper is one of my favorite metals, and id never heard this word before.
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    edited August 2014
    @bengoshi‌ conpromise?image
    :)
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