Last of 3 threads that began with one on "dissect".

The author says fantastical, but does he mean fantastic? What is the difference between those words?

quote:

...the storm did fantastical things, including moving a fullly loaded freezer from the house and wedging it between the Cramond's Lincoln Continental and their garage ceiling.

Dictionary.com lists it as an alternative to 'fantastic,' and there are 1,580,000 sites for it in Google.

I think it is a better word to use; especially when you don't want to use the much-debased word 'fantastic'.

I don't think "fantastic" is much-debased, is it?

It kind of reminds me of the difference between "special" and "especial." I saw "especial" used recently and really don't see much of a difference between the 2 words, excpet that "special" can have some other meanings, such as "having a specific function."

quote:

I don't think "fantastic" is much-debased, is it?

It surely is by the media in the UK. Commentators on everything from football to fairyland refer to the achievements of the participants as "fantastic", when they simply mean very good, or even exceptionally good.

Only those commenting on the second of my two examples would probably be using the term correctly :-)

Of course, one way to look at it would be to say that "fantastic" has now come to mean "extremely excellent" - no doubt a debased use, but arguably one now accepted. If so, then a distinction is preserved if 'fantastical' is reserved for the meaning of 'fantasy-like'.

Then I don't think that "fantastic" is debased here in the U.S., though others may disagree with me.

Wow, I didn't even know that fantastical was a word. It sounds like a made up word, kind of like my creating indexes is "indicizing", or similarly, distributing things as "distributizing", clearly not words, but fun to say.

Actually, I'm pretty sure I have heard fantastical before, but my brain always treated it as fantastic said whimsically, so I can't really remember it as its own word.

Interesting conflict between the dictionaries here.

AHD and MW treat 'fantastical' as a synonym for all meanings of 'fantastic'.

OED lists several definitions of 'fantastic', including as #7 the (debased) sense of 'wonderful, excellent'. It lists 'fantastical' as a synonym for some sennses of 'fantastic', but not for this sense #7.

I have to say, I am with Sean in that I hadn't thought "fantastical" to really be a word.

"Fantastical" is an awfulcal word.

Tinman

Don't worry your pretty little syllables, fantastical, you'll always be a favorite of mine.

quote:

Originally posted by tinman: "Fantastical" is an awfulcal word.

In some ways I agree with you, for (except for the profanation of 'fantastic') it seems redundant.

On the other hand, Shakespeare used it 14 times, as against only 6 for 'fantastic', so who am I to disagree?

I wondered how many time Shakespeare used "wench". Somehow I doubt I'll be greeted kindly when saying, "Hello wenches, let me buy you a drink."

Yes, but I bet you'd do just fine saying, "Greetings to you, fair wenches, will you allow me to purchase your next round of ale?"

Is "studmuffins" from Shakespeare?

Wordnerd, that is such a good example of the importance of the use of words.

I am reading a book that reminded me of some of the phrases from the '80s, including, "cruisin' chicks," "suck face" and "San Fran-tastic." Do you Californians use the latter? I remember when I lived in SF, it was always called "THE city," which I found a little arrogant, but I guess I can understand it. It is a fabulous city.