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Post by Half Machine Lipschitz on Jan 28, 2019 12:17:06 GMT
I'm trying to think of adjectives that sound odd or ugly but that describe something beautiful (and is there a word for that?)
It's probably wholly subjective - perhaps you've grown up hearing a certain word and knowing its meaning but then someone tells you that it's an ugly word but you just don't hear it, or a word might be new to you and sound odd, etc.
Anyway, one that I've had rolling around in my head for a couple of days now is 'nacreous'. It's ugly isn't it? In my mind it describes something that is tarry and bitter, and always has, but it's used to describe something pearlescent or shimmering. For some reason I'm always surprised whenever I see it used n context.
What have you got?
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Post by Crunchy Col on Jan 28, 2019 12:42:12 GMT
This really interests me. 'fulgent' doesn't sound too pleasant (reminiscent of 'pungent') but it's a very positive adjective.
Quite often we don't know what words really mean, but we use them anyway. Like 'twee'.
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Post by rayge on Jan 28, 2019 13:31:52 GMT
'Coruscating'. Because of the sound, and it's application to rapier-like wit, assumed to mean corrosive or scathing, instead of 'glittering' or 'sparkling'
'Plangent' is the opposite, an onomatopoeically ugly word often used to suggest plaintive, quiet or melodically sorrowful when applied to music, while it actually comes from roots meaning loudly lamenting, chest-beating or wailing - loudly and noisily miserable, basically.
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Post by rayge on Jan 28, 2019 13:40:34 GMT
And there's fulsome, which sounds like it means full, appropriate, especially in the phrase 'fulsome praise', where it actually means 'greasy', and fulsome praise is flattering, over-the-top, ingratiating and implicitly insincere.
Pedanticus loves this thread already
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Post by DarknessFish on Jan 28, 2019 13:58:16 GMT
Perspicacious. Just sounds like you've done a really good job of obfuscating something, rather than making something clearer/offering insight.
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Post by Inspector Norse on Jan 28, 2019 14:12:32 GMT
Not strictly on the topic but related in terms of adjectives that don't sound like their meaning:
"Diminutive", which to me sounds like it means something large, something that diminishes others. So when you describe a person as "diminutive" it sounds like they are bigger than those around them.
"Crepuscular" which rather than having to do with twilight activity sounds like something involving unpleasant substances - ones you might find in a sewer or dump for example. |
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Post by Half Machine Lipschitz on Jan 28, 2019 14:25:46 GMT
Not strictly on the topic but related in terms of adjectives that don't sound like their meaning:
"Diminutive", which to me sounds like it means something large, something that diminishes others. So when you describe a person as "diminutive" it sounds like they are bigger than those around them.
"Crepuscular" which rather than having to do with twilight activity sounds like something involving unpleasant substances - ones you might find in a sewer or dump for example. I'm with you to a degree with 'crepuscular' (although I do sort of think of it as a somewhat 'pretty' word - perhaps thanks to Thelonious Monk), but I've never taken 'diminutive' to mean or sound like anything other than what it is. But that's probably to do with the subjective quality of these things like I mentioned above. |
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Post by Crunchy Col on Jan 28, 2019 16:07:14 GMT
And there's fulsome, which sounds like it means full, appropriate, especially in the phrase 'fulsome praise', where it actually means 'greasy', and fulsome praise is flattering, over-the-top, ingratiating and implicitly insincere. Yeah, but, you know....language changes. 'literally', the newest bugbear |
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Post by rayge on Jan 28, 2019 16:20:23 GMT
And there's fulsome, which sounds like it means full, appropriate, especially in the phrase 'fulsome praise', where it actually means 'greasy', and fulsome praise is flattering, over-the-top, ingratiating and implicitly insincere. Yeah, but, you know.... language changes. 'literally', the newest bugbear Yep, sure does, but I reserve my right to come over all coruscatingly plangent about it  |
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Post by Admin on Jan 28, 2019 16:37:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2023 17:02:40 GMT
I think we Irish have the thing of using words that just don't belong but still works.
I had a feed of beer last night
It's a powerful day.
There's better examples but i just can't think of any at the minute.
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Post by Crunchy Col on Jul 4, 2023 17:04:01 GMT
'it's deadly!'
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2023 17:05:07 GMT
Yeah, that's another one. More dublin and you know what i think of........them.
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Post by Crunchy Col on Jul 4, 2023 17:06:28 GMT
They're great. Your country has a great tradition of playing around with language. Some beautiful phrases. 'interfering with yourself'  |
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Post by Crunchy Col on Jul 4, 2023 17:11:59 GMT
Ever read The Ginger Man, Markus? It's the greatest book
Green carpet on the floor, faded and beat. Square wash basin in the corner and a red screen. The fireplace neatly with a copy of the Evening Mail. A boarded up door out to the back garden. She said in heavy rain, water came in on the floor. And another door into the hall. Out there I take my baths and late at night for leisure. I will scrub your back. That would be nice… A battered wardrobe, half open and a green coat, and three pairs of shoes. On the window sill next to the front door, a gas ring, and a few pans hanging on the wall.
“Miss Frost, sometimes I feel fifty three. Seldom, but at times, I feel twenty. Like the days. Ever feel a Saturday on a Tuesday? Or a week of one Friday after another? Recently I've been seventy. But I remember thirty four as a fine age.”
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