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Junior Member
posted May 30, 2009 09:44
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.
 
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<Proofreader>
posted May 30, 2009 12:25
Hospitalization
 
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Junior Member
posted May 30, 2009 15:17Hide Post
So witty Roll Eyes
 
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<Proofreader>
posted May 30, 2009 18:18
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.
 
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Picture of arnie
posted June 01, 2009 02:44Hide Post
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.
 
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<Proofreader>
posted June 01, 2009 05:55
quote:
Buffet?

Hit him with furniture?
 
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Junior Member
posted June 01, 2009 19:44Hide Post
Something more along the lines of 'prod,' please.
 
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Junior Member
posted June 02, 2009 02:40Hide Post
Something along the lines of hortatory...
 
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Picture of zmježd
posted June 02, 2009 05:48Hide Post
How's about exhortative humeral jostling?


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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Junior Member
posted June 02, 2009 07:31Hide Post
how about a single word? come on, doesn't anyone know?
 
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Picture of arnie
posted June 02, 2009 07:40Hide Post
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.
 
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Picture of zmježd
posted June 02, 2009 07:56Hide Post
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.
 
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Junior Member
posted June 02, 2009 21:27Hide Post
The obsession? CLARITY. PRECISION. LINGUISTIC MASTERY.
 
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Picture of Richard English
posted June 02, 2009 22:05Hide Post
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, June 03, 2009 12:27


Richard English
 
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Picture of arnie
posted June 03, 2009 01:36Hide Post
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.
 
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Picture of zmježd
posted June 03, 2009 07:08Hide Post
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.
 
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Junior Member
posted June 04, 2009 11:06Hide Post
I'd like to introduce your friend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson to my friend Thomas Pynchon.
 
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Picture of arnie
posted June 04, 2009 11:16Hide Post
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.
 
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Junior Member
posted June 04, 2009 11:23Hide Post
All the more reason to follow his advice! Apropos constantly evolving phenomena, the more anachronistic the advice, the better!
 
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Picture of zmježd
posted June 04, 2009 22:10Hide Post
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.
 
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Junior Member
posted June 05, 2009 02:23Hide Post
Kevin-Bacon-istically? Not bad; almost creative as far as hyphenated neologisms go: try and think more out-of-the-box-istically though.
 
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Picture of arnie
posted June 05, 2009 02:26Hide Post
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.
 
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Junior Member
posted June 07, 2009 23:39Hide Post
I agree. Got another word to express out-of-the-box?
 
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Picture of Richard English
posted June 13, 2009 02:31Hide Post
quote:
I agree. Got another word to express out-of-the-box?

"Lateral thinking". (Edward DeBono's phrase, not mine)


Richard English
 
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