I'm looking for a word that describes a light, playful shove (usually at the shoulder; usually recurrent) functioning as a goad. It's important that the aspect of physical contact is expressed in the word. Example: "I don't want to go to the circus." Defiant. "Come on... come on..." His brother's shoulder now capped by his younger hand, goading.
May 30, 2009, 12:25
<Proofreader>
Hospitalization
May 30, 2009, 15:17
DFWandPynchon
So witty
May 30, 2009, 18:18
<Proofreader>
Perhapss someone of a more serious bent will bealong to help you shortly. I'm unable to think of an adequate term other than the previous.
June 01, 2009, 02:44
arnie
Cuff? Buffet?
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
June 01, 2009, 05:55
<Proofreader>
quote:
Buffet?
Hit him with furniture?
June 01, 2009, 19:44
DFWandPynchon
Something more along the lines of 'prod,' please.
June 02, 2009, 02:40
DFWandPynchon
Something along the lines of hortatory...
June 02, 2009, 05:48
zmježd
How's about exhortative humeral jostling?
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
June 02, 2009, 07:31
DFWandPynchon
how about a single word? come on, doesn't anyone know?
June 02, 2009, 07:40
arnie
There isn't a single word in English for every conceivable happening, although German tends to get close to it sometimes.
Unless you happen to have had a word in mind along along? In which case do share it with the rest of us.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
June 02, 2009, 07:56
zmježd
how about a single word?
I wonder what the obsession with finding single words for every conceivable definition is called. The number of possible definitions is infinite, but the lexical inventory of a language is finite (if poorly counted). One would need an infinite vocabulary to come up with words for every conceivable definition.
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
June 02, 2009, 21:27
DFWandPynchon
The obsession? CLARITY. PRECISION. LINGUISTIC MASTERY.
June 02, 2009, 22:05
Richard English
Liguistic mastery I might go along with - but clarity and precision needs the proper use of language - which is not necessarily a reduction of every concept to single words.
Your exemplar sentence, "..."Come on... come on..." His brother's shoulder now capped by his younger hand, goading...." conveys its meaning pretty well without the necessity for single word to explain the concept of that light shove.
Edited for typo.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Richard English,
Richard English
June 03, 2009, 01:36
arnie
quote:
One would need an infinite vocabulary to come up with words for every conceivable definition.
Linguistic mastery indeed!
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
June 03, 2009, 07:08
zmježd
CLARITY. PRECISION. LINGUISTIC MASTERY
Give me brevity and an absence of inkhorn terms. The mathematician and logician, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, addressed linguistic mastery in one of his lighter books (link). It little helps communication if your vocabulary needs copious footnotes to explain in plainer language what you're on about. But to each her own. Pray continue in your search.
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
June 04, 2009, 11:06
DFWandPynchon
I'd like to introduce your friend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson to my friend Thomas Pynchon.
June 04, 2009, 11:16
arnie
I'm afraid Dodgson died in 1898.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
June 04, 2009, 11:23
DFWandPynchon
All the more reason to follow his advice! Apropos constantly evolving phenomena, the more anachronistic the advice, the better!
June 04, 2009, 22:10
zmježd
I'd like to introduce your friend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson to my friend Thomas Pynchon.
They're both friends of mine. Good ones. And, Kevin-Bacon-istically they've both been in Simpsons episodes (Dodgson and Pynchon).
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
June 05, 2009, 02:23
DFWandPynchon
Kevin-Bacon-istically? Not bad; almost creative as far as hyphenated neologisms go: try and think more out-of-the-box-istically though.
June 05, 2009, 02:26
arnie
quote:
out-of-the-box
Rather a tired cliché nowadays, I'd say.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
June 07, 2009, 23:39
DFWandPynchon
I agree. Got another word to express out-of-the-box?
June 13, 2009, 02:31
Richard English
quote:
I agree. Got another word to express out-of-the-box?
"Lateral thinking". (Edward DeBono's phrase, not mine)
