noun: substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads')
and
Encyclopedia article: Metonymy, a term of rhetoric and cognitive linguistics, is the use of a single characteristic to identify a more complex entity. It is also known as denominatio.
In rhetoric, metonymy is the substitution of one word for another with which it is associated... (continued at Wikipedia)
What I described above is "litotes."
(Don't mind me, I'm just sitting here, thinking to myself and talking out loud...)This message has been edited. Last edited by: haberdasher,
If it had another OR, and one A fewer, it would be REFORMATION, which indeed comes very seldom.
But it doesn't, so it isn't.
The letters do make FETORMANIA, which if it existed would be a fascination with bad smells...This message has been edited. Last edited by: haberdasher,
Another nice one. Never would have gotten it without your help:
FORAMINATE
And a T-short (for coming up with a solution the editors didn't think of) for BACTERIAL, which is indeed an anagram of A BAT RELIC. I had in mind yet another nine-letter word - can we find it?
A BAT RELIC = BACTERIAL
PS. a lot of Life Sciences words in your active vocabulary - are you in the field?
Somehow I missed Hab's talking to himself (remember, long ago I wondered if there is a word for "talking to oneself") about "metonymy." That word is fairly new to me, and I really like it. Apparently it is also used in schizophrenia when a related word is used in place of a correct one.
Thunderstorm
[Jo, if I recall from the chat, you are a linguist, and not in life sciences, correct?]
SEMITONIC APLEXThis message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,
I thought of the answer right away! But now I've forgotten it. It was an AMNESIC EXPLOIT.
(And when my hillbilly friend messed up and had to pay for it later, it was CLEM'S EXPIATION.)This message has been edited. Last edited by: haberdasher,
Gosh, I thought maybe I had misspelled it, but I haven't (I don't think! ).
Hint: I found this word while reading an article about how Americans tend to think we are unique, and this word refers to the condition of being unique.
Not to worry. Wasn't _your_ word; you don't have to apologize for it, just because to me it feels more like psychobabble than like a real word. What is a word, anyway? "EASTRING" looks and sounds like a word, but is it one? If I use it, and you know what I meant, does _that_ make it a word? How many people have to use it before it is "generally" accepted? Who says so?
(/rant)
I have the feeling this has been gone over many times before, here and elsewhere...
Do you know how many times I have asked that question on this site? I agree with you; it isn't clear to me at all what makes a grouping of letters a word. Just because somebody coins "cybersquatting," does that make it a word? When does it become one? Does it have to be in a published dictionary? If so, which one? Or, as jheem says, is language always evolving? I fear that question will never be answered.
As to "exceptionalism," it was probably a bad choice for this game. So, my apology sticks! I am just glad I didn't misspell it, though.
(prepared to go back and start over if you had something else in mind)
AERATED IDS (punched holes in your driver's license?)
PS And good for you, Arnie; I had thought "scullery" might be a little more trouble, but you got it right away!This message has been edited. Last edited by: haberdasher,
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