Definitions

Sorry, no definitions found. Check out and contribute to the discussion of this word!

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word lost for word.

Examples

    Sorry, no example sentences found.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • See here.

    October 28, 2010

  • I don't see why we couldn't set up a temporary camp here. I've been wondering if there's a word for being haunted by people who are still alive--like when your friend goes on a trip and you think you've see them in a crowd.

    October 8, 2011

  • I don't see why we couldn't set up a temporary camp here.

    I hate to say it, 'zuzu, but I think you may be suffering from Stockholm syndrome. We could do any number of things, but my point is, we should not be forced to go to ridiculous lengths to do things that were once straightforward. Have you ever read the book "Ella Minnow Pea"? It's a good metaphor for recent experience on this site.

    Based on my own most recent experience of the phenomenon you describe, the phrase "adulterous friend" comes to mind. He said he was gone away on a trip, but in fact he was cavorting with his wife's (former) best friend.

    My question was whether or not there is a word for this kind of construction:

    "the French ability to, and tolerance for, bullshit, is absurdly high", in which a faux-parallel structure is imposed, despite "bullshit" being used as both verb and noun in the given example.

    October 8, 2011

  • ruzuzu: I think that’s an excellent idea (setting up camp until we get list comments back part, I mean, not the being haunted. Not that the being haunted thing isn’t good question—it is. I’m just not saying that anyone should go out of her way to be so haunted. I mean, it was only the former, not the latter, to which I was referring. You know what I mean. Goosnargh).

    October 8, 2011

  • Thanks to Google, we can see the comments on the list at 2011.07.21 23:32:32 UTC, in case your question isn’t enough to get the threat restarted. We can always migrate the conversation back once the former glory of Wordnik is restored.

    October 8, 2011

  • sionnach: You’re right, we shouldn’t. Also, thanks for not letting that stop you. (My vote is skewism, but I just made it up.)

    Edit I think it’s technically a faulty parallelism, but I agree that it’s a special case that works by superimposing two grammatically-correct constructions. (I’m tempted to apply the word superposition, but again I’d be inventing terminology.)

    October 8, 2011

  • I think that's called the fallacy of accent, isn't it? ("Save soap and waste paper.")

    Now I'm going to see if I can find more about Ella Minnow Pea before I go changing my username to Tania.

    October 8, 2011

  • sionnach: Please be honest: Did you know when you asked your question that the only “related” word above, syllepsis, is a plausible answer, or is that just a very iroquoisy, very spooky coincidence?

    October 8, 2011

  • Maybe it depends on which accent you use when you're asking the oracle (I'm fond of acute accents).

    October 8, 2011

  • In [fakey French accent*] Oracle: What eez zee enswer to zeennach’s kestio?

    The oracle replies, “resettling”.

    * Also known as a hidesous accent; see citation at loo.

    October 8, 2011

  • I was just looking at the word arm and realized that it could be anagrammed to ram and mar. Is there a word for words where each and every variation in the order of the letters leads to another word?

    August 1, 2019

  • Good point ruzuzu. There may be languages other than English where this is mare common.

    August 3, 2019