Looking for the word

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-05-17, 8:48

linguoboy wrote:
Woods wrote:“lodestar”

Interesting! I've never heard of that word before - am I the only one? How common is it?

Merriam: one that serves as an inspiration, model, or guide

So this is a person that serves an example. I'm looking for something to name a guide such as a book or website.

And how likely is someone hearing "something compass" to think that it's a guide? Because the meaning seems to be found in English too, but not to be one of the main ones. Or am I mixing English with other languages?

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-05-18, 20:37

Adjective qualifying "hot"

I'm thinking of stone-cold - what would be an equivalent for "hot"? I mean something so hot that when you touch it you drop it or you get shocked or something like that. Will drop-hot + noun work?

And how could I call this attribute to the adjective grammatically? I was wondering what term to type to google what I was looking for.

I think I was able to find something actually:

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-adjective-for-hot

But my question is only partly answered so I post it.

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Dormouse559 » 2021-05-18, 20:52

Woods wrote:I'm thinking of stone-cold - what would be an equivalent for "hot"? I mean something so hot that when you touch it you drop it or you get shocked or something like that. Will drop-hot + noun work?

"Burning hot" works in general. There's also "scalding hot" for liquid or steam.
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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-05-18, 21:53

Woods wrote:Adjective qualifying "hot"

I'm thinking of stone-cold - what would be an equivalent for "hot"? I mean something so hot that when you touch it you drop it or you get shocked or something like that. Will drop-hot + noun work?

And how could I call this attribute to the adjective grammatically? I was wondering what term to type to google what I was looking for.

I think I was able to find something actually:

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-adjective-for-hot

But my question is only partly answered so I post it.


"Stone-cold" is a compound adjective made up of an intensifying noun (special intensifier) and an adjective.
For example, these are common:
blood red
bone dry
crystal clear
dirt cheap
dirt poor
ice cold
paper thin
pitch black
razor sharp
rock hard
sky blue
snow white
stone cold
wafer thin
Basically there are only certain ones that are used idiomatically in English; we can't normally "invent" new ones with some random noun and adjective combination, and an invented one most likely wouldn't sound as natural or have as clear a meaning. You can't even replace the words above with a synonym without it sounding strange (for example, we say "razor-sharp" but not "knife-sharp", "ice-cold" but not "snow-cold").

I can't think of a noun-adjective intensifier to use with "hot". But the ones Dormouse suggested ("burning hot" or "scalding hot") are good. "Red-hot" might also work.
There are others that probably wouldn't work as well for your context of picking up something that is too hot to touch, such as "boiling hot" (for liquids), "piping hot" (for foods and drinks), "scorching hot" (for dry, radiative heat), "sweltering hot" (for humid, sweat-causing heat), etc.

Drop-hot definitely does not work. Aside from the fact that it isn't an existing idiomatic expression, it wouldn't even make a good candidate for one because usually when a compound adjective is formed with a verb, the verb is in the -ing form ("burning hot", "freezing cold", "dripping wet", "hopping mad" etc.). And, usually the thing being described is what does the action (it burns you, it drips, etc.), but it your example it's the other way around. I'm not sure if those are rules - there may be exceptions I'm not thinking of, but those are some of the reasons "drop-hot" doesn't sound right to me.

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-05-18, 22:30

Dormouse559 wrote:"Burning hot" works in general. There's also "scalding hot" for liquid or steam.

Linguaphile wrote:the ones Dormouse suggested ("burning hot" or "scalding hot") are good. "Red-hot" might also work.
There are others that probably wouldn't work as well for your context of picking up something that is too hot to touch, such as "boiling hot" (for liquids), "piping hot" (for foods and drinks), "scorching hot" (for dry, radiative heat), "sweltering hot" (for humid, sweat-causing heat), etc.

What about the feverish-hot suggested at the link that I pasted?

The context where I need it is something inciting one's interest, but also shocking at the same time.

And if feverish is both "characterized by or displaying a frenetic excitement or energy" and "having or showing the symptoms of a fever" (Oxford), it almost sounds like a match.

Feverish-hot headlines. - maybe it can be understood both as something which makes you very interested but also could make you sick? That would work perfectly.

Or fevered-hot - would that be similar with added feeling that something is wrong?

And by the way I do need the hyphen between the adjective and the intensifying word, don't I?

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby linguoboy » 2021-05-18, 22:47

Woods wrote:What about the feverish-hot suggested at the link that I pasted?

Doesn't sound idiomatic to me.

Woods wrote:And by the way I do need the hyphen between the adjective and the intensifying word, don't I?

Depends which set of stylistic guidelines you're following. (Most publishers have a "house style" which regulates such things. Those which don't adopt a set of existing guidelines, such as the AP Stylebook, the Chicago Manual of Style, the Economist Style Guide, etc.)
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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-05-18, 23:23

linguoboy wrote:
Woods wrote:What about the feverish-hot suggested at the link that I pasted?

Doesn't sound idiomatic to me.

Nor to me. I looked at the link you pasted, and it says "The 45 words below are either synonyms or are related to “hot” and are from Thesaurus.com. You can add “hot” after many of these words to make a compound adjective (e.g., “boiling hot”)."
They are not all synonyms, they are "either synonyms or are related to 'hot'", and you can't add "hot" after all of them to make a compound adjective, just after "many" of them. They are not suggesting that "feverish hot" is an appropriate synonym for "hot". They are suggesting that "feverish" (on its own) can be a near-synonym or word related to "hot" in certain contexts.
Do you need this word to describe something that is too hot to hold, or to describe a headline? From your first post on this topic I thought it was "something that is too hot to hold" and from your more recent post, it sounds like it is actually a headline. If it's a headline, then the fact that it is "hot" is already a metaphor to begin with, so you may not want to "stretch" it too far by adding more figurative language to it.
If we're talking about headlines, "hot" has a connotation of either "very interesting, getting a lot of attention" or "very recent".
A "feverish" headline would have the connotation of generating frenzy, getting people excited or very emotional (in either a negative or positive way) about something, often more excited or emotional than the situation actually warrants. It sounds like this might be what you want, but in that case I would leave out the word "hot" and just say "feverish". It also doesn't really anything about feeling sick, just frenzied.

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-05-19, 9:19

Linguaphile wrote:
linguoboy wrote:
Woods wrote:What about the feverish-hot suggested at the link that I pasted?

Doesn't sound idiomatic to me.

Nor to me. I looked at the link you pasted, and it says "The 45 words below are either synonyms or are related to “hot” and are from Thesaurus.com. You can add “hot” after many of these words to make a compound adjective (e.g., “boiling hot”)."
They are not all synonyms, they are "either synonyms or are related to 'hot'", and you can't add "hot" after all of them to make a compound adjective, just after "many" of them. They are not suggesting that "feverish hot" is an appropriate synonym for "hot".

Okay, you read it more carefully than me :darn:


Linguaphile wrote:Do you need this word to describe something that is too hot to hold, or to describe a headline?

to describe a headline


Linguaphile wrote:From your first post on this topic I thought it was "something that is too hot to hold"

I know, I'm noticing I should be more exact.


Linguaphile wrote:If it's a headline, then the fact that it is "hot" is already a metaphor to begin with, so you may not want to "stretch" it too far by adding more figurative language to it.

why not :P


Linguaphile wrote:A "feverish" headline would have the connotation of generating frenzy, getting people excited or very emotional (in either a negative or positive way) about something, often more excited or emotional than the situation actually warrants. It sounds like this might be what you want, but in that case I would leave out the word "hot" and just say "feverish". It also doesn't really anything about feeling sick, just frenzied.

Well, actually the idea is that the section lists the most interesting, important and relevant topics.

Like top picks + the idea of interesting, important and relevant.

So I came up with hot because of the idea of still new, freshly cooked so to say, not having gotten too cold to consume I guess.

I don't know why, it was just what came to mind first.

What about fevered?

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-05-19, 9:58

Another one:

That's not rotation, but...?

In the header of this webpage:

https://ladyzone.bg/

you can see how the background, title and text change and come after one another. My first way to call it was "rotation," but then I realised this word rather means turning it 90° left or right. So what are these titles doing, if not rotating?

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby linguoboy » 2021-05-19, 14:59

Woods wrote:What about fevered?

"Fevered" has the same connotations as "feverish" (and, in fact, is the more usual term in this sense). See: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fevered.

Woods wrote:Another one:

That's not rotation, but...?

In the header of this webpage:

https://ladyzone.bg/

Can't tell; too many popups.
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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Dormouse559 » 2021-05-19, 15:31

Woods wrote:Another one:

That's not rotation, but...?

In the header of this webpage:

https://ladyzone.bg/

you can see how the background, title and text change and come after one another. My first way to call it was "rotation," but then I realised this word rather means turning it 90° left or right. So what are these titles doing, if not rotating?

That's called a carousel or a slideshow. For me, "carousel" feels specific to this website feature, while "slideshow" can apply to any series of images that proceeds one by one.
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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-05-26, 21:13

Dormouse559 wrote:That's called a carousel or a slideshow. For me, "carousel" feels specific to this website feature, while "slideshow" can apply to any series of images that proceeds one by one.

Thanks!

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-07-23, 14:50

Is there a verb for when you've tasted something and after that you're still feeling/enjoying/remembering the taste?

I want to use metaphorically about thinking about something that supposedly felt (and in the case of my sentence - tasted) good.

The closest I could find are "meditate on" and "muse on", but I really want the positive / enjoyment connotation. From what I can see in dictionaries none of these two has it. If I don't find anything better, which of those would be more casual - without implicating some possible problem or seriousness in one's thoughts - I guess "meditate on"?

But if we can find something that implies enjoyment and taste it will be best :)

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby linguoboy » 2021-07-23, 15:24

Woods wrote:Is there a verb for when you've tasted something and after that you're still feeling/enjoying/remembering the taste?

"savour"

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/savour#Verb
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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-07-23, 15:27

linguoboy wrote:
Woods wrote:Is there a verb for when you've tasted something and after that you're still feeling/enjoying/remembering the taste?

"savour"

This one is too strong. There must also be an element of subtlety, gradually starting to enjoy it from little to more.

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-07-23, 16:18

Woods wrote:
linguoboy wrote:
Woods wrote:Is there a verb for when you've tasted something and after that you're still feeling/enjoying/remembering the taste?

"savour"

This one is too strong. There must also be an element of subtlety, gradually starting to enjoy it from little to more.

(en-us) savor / (en-uk) savour was one of the first possibilities that came to my mind, too. I don't know your context, but I don't think it's especially strong.
Another possibility would be something with the noun aftertaste, maybe (based on your description above) something like "at first the flavor was nothing special, but then he started to savor/enjoy its pleasant aftertaste" or whatever.
Do you know of a word in any other language that means exactly what you are looking for, with the right subtleties in its meaning? If you do, please post it. Maybe we can find a better English translation for it.

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-07-23, 16:49

Linguaphile wrote:
Woods wrote:
linguoboy wrote:
Woods wrote:Is there a verb for when you've tasted something and after that you're still feeling/enjoying/remembering the taste?

"savour"

This one is too strong. There must also be an element of subtlety, gradually starting to enjoy it from little to more.

(en-us) savor / (en-uk) savour was one of the first possibilities that came to my mind, too. I don't know your context, but I don't think it's especially strong.

The problem is that it's talking about a taste of something that a person is starting to get and enjoy, whereas to savour means that they were already enjoying it and are keeping that enjoyment for longer.

That's why I ended up with "meditate on" and lost the sense of taste and enjoyment, because I can't use something like "savour" for that reason.

It's talking about feelings and psychology, nothing to do with meals, but something like a metaphor was intended.


Linguaphile wrote:Do you know of a word in any other language that means exactly what you are looking for, with the right subtleties in its meaning? If you do, please post it.

I am not sure actually, but something makes me feel like I've heard such a word in English. I sometimes get this feeling that there's a certain word for something, I don't know why :hmm:

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-12-09, 15:49

"il se prend pour" (in the sense of he thinks he's something real good but he's the only one who thinks so)

takes himself as/for / thinks of himself as - I think none of those works? How could I say it:


pretends to be
- this one is more exaggerated and obvious than "se prendre pour," so I don't quite like it

he thinks he is - maybe this one, but I like the French version better

sees himself as
:hmm:

fancies himself - maybe that one has some extra positive vibe of a connotation of enjoying it? Or is it just ironic? :hmm:

If it's the former it also doesn't fit, because the character is just self-righteous and annoys people lecturing them what opinion they should have.

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Re: Looking for the word

Postby linguoboy » 2021-12-09, 18:01

I would say "fancies himself" adds a note of derision from the speaker, which I think gives you the connotation you're looking for. (This is a British usage; to get the same effect in American English, I might say "he likes to think he's", which has the same connotation that his views do not match the external consensus. "He considers himself" is more neutral but could have the same meaning in context.)
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Re: Looking for the word

Postby Woods » 2021-12-09, 22:56

linguoboy wrote:I would say "fancies himself" adds a note of derision from the speaker, which I think gives you the connotation you're looking for. (This is a British usage; to get the same effect in American English, I might say "he likes to think he's", which has the same connotation that his views do not match the external consensus.

I think I will go for "fancies himself" - it seems to fit.

I usually don't care if it's British or American English but mix it all up and look for the most interestingly sounding (fanciest ha-ha) expression.

With the only condition that it should be understandable - but I guess Americans will recognise that expression too?

"He likes to think he is" is somewhat too obvious, I don't know - maybe because I've got the French expression stuck in my head, or maybe it somehow feels like the verb "is" shouldn't be there. But good to know the differences.


"He considers himself" is more neutral but could have the same meaning in context.)

By the way are all the three I mentioned in the beginning (thinks of himself as /takes himself for / takes himself as) completely unidiomatic?

Actually I'm pretty sure I'll use "likes to think he is" somewhere in the future - just not exactly in this sentence.


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