Forums-->Off-game forum-->
1|2|3|4|5|6
| Author | The Great Etymology Throwdown |
|---|
| Fantussy: The name given to a re occurring dream where dyslexic individuals consistently and without error spell correctly | | :D | Virtual_vitrea wins. Yes, it wasn't the most detailed explanation, but as a fellow with a math degree, it appealed to me. It certainly helps that the etymology actually contained more than a tangential relationship to the definition that I had given when the word was selected for this particular round. (I'm sorry, it seems I'm not educated enough to know of a world where certain murals are considered _paragraphs_.)
I realize that VV technically wasn't a part of this contest - well, now they are. Congratulations on your first point, VV. May it not be your last (before everyone gets bored of this exercise, at least). I expect great things from you; if not great things, then at least ok things, maybe.
I can neither confirm nor deny whether Igles's less than subtle insult of the Danathan clan had any influence on the final choice.
The etymology of the word paragraph can be found here: https://www.etymonline.com/word/paragraph.
Standings:
Igles 1
Lord MilesTeg 1
virtual_vitrea 1
The word of choice for the next round is decadence, as suggested by Igles. The definition of decadence is as follows: moral or cultural decline as characterized by excessive indulgence in pleasure or luxury.
Good luck, everyone. | In order to measure the viscosity of liquids a sphere of a substance is dropped through a column off liquid, with the time taken directly linked to the viscosity. The resolution of this measurement is greatest when there is a larger downwards force.
In order to generate this a search was made for the densest substance, looking to alloy metals and generate an even more closer packed structure. The research culminated in an alloy containing iridium, gold and lanthium and was called Igles.
This alloy was 10 times more dense than their reference of aluminium, and surpassed osmium in density by some margin. To illustrate just how dense the term decadence was coined meaning 10 times more dense.
Interestingly the term can also be used as a pejorative for particularly stupid people.
Igles is decadence | We all experience moments that bring about sadness, boredom, anger, pleasure, pain. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, young or old, life will inevitably present moments that stir these feelings, the full spectrum in all of us. Although what might trigger elation in one person might mean nothing to another. Many may feel indifferent about your most exhilarating moments, and there will be a mismatch over what triggers you to feel an emotion vs the other person. But on the whole, we all live through this cycle of emotions in our life over and over.
How ecstatic I felt when I saw my favorite cousin after nearly a decade, or the profound joy you (Dan) must have felt when witnessing you baby take their first steps. And then there’s the indescribable relief—the rarest kind of joy I felt when someone I thought was lost somehow came back to life. These moments seem worlds apart in context, but neurologically, they're deceptively similar. If something microscopic captured the moment-to-moment changes in our brains. Its releasing the same cocktail of chemicals—serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine over and over. The intensity might vary, but the ingredients are the same. What makes these experiences feel so different, then? It’s the circuitry—the unique pathways carved by our memories, beliefs, and past experiences. These circuits add nuance and color, layering subjective meaning onto a shared biological process.
In essence what I'm trying to say is that we’re all cycling through a finite palette of emotions which are endlessly reinterpreted through the lens of our personal stories. There is also a finite number of cycles we can experience, and that is dependent on our brain's capacity and our individual lifespans. "Decadent" was coined to represent such extreme indulgence, akin to someone living a decade's worth of pleasure altogether i.e. Decadent pleasure. Or Decadent fear. Decadent sorrow. You get the idea. | Such beautiful scene setting, and so poignant, but unfortunately a complete fabrication, and I think you must have missed the memo but the word was decadence.
Anyway the meaning of this word is pretty straight forward once you see that it should be pronounced de-cadence.
This is the process used to take all variation in pace, pitch and expression from a vocal sample, effectively turning it into a monotone robotic voice. In effect all cadence is removed. | | Damn you miles i was gonna do an angle on cadence lol | | Soz, I decided to make sure I got in early to avoid that situation myself, there are only a finite number if reasonable ways your can spin something before they get convoluted or overly forced | Well, I guess Hapko and Nebi dropped out. Sad.
Indeed, we need more contesters! | Sure, textbooks say decadence comes from Latin decadentia, meaning decline. But the real story? It starts with the Merlinions, a long-lost island civilization so filthy rich they wiped their asses with rose petals and paid poets to compliment their nipples.
Their word, dick’a-dan, meant to light a thousand lamps at noon—basically: wasting everything, loudly. King Merlakhin the Perfumed once built a fake sun out of diamonds so his orgies had “mood lighting.” One banquet featured roast flamingo stuffed with cocaine and regret. Guests died happy. Or just died.
The Merlinions thought moderation was a disease. Their temples had gold bidets, and their priests blessed orgies with oils “imported from the thighs of angels.” Eventually, the sea rose up like a hungover god and drowned the whole place in one night. Probably out of spite.
Survivors babbled stories to Phoenician sailors, who passed them on to the Greeks, who—as usual—mangled the word into decadentia. Latin nerds copied it, none the wiser.
So today, decadence sounds like a polite decline. But its true meaning? It’s getting blackout drunk in a marble tub, feeding strawberries to a tiger, and calling it culture.
Some stragglers of the Merlinions partake in such practices like buying 4 slice toasters even to this day . | | Oh my lord, I have a 4 slice toaster.. does that mean I'm a merlinion? Or maybe I am merlakhin reborn | | Me too, man I'm having to re-evaluate my life choices! | I don't understand the issue with buying four slice toasters. Sometimes a person wants four slices of toast, at the same time, you know? And then a three slice toaster wouldn't cut it. Or toast it, I guess
I feel bad, because my dumb joke about paragraphs probably made Lord MilesTeg think my attention span was too short to consider ideas that spanned more than two sentences. He'd be right, of course, but it would probably be best if we pretended that that wasn't the case. I'm fine with longer paragraphs; the main issue actually was that my phone screen is too small so paragraphs the size of four sentences span the entire screen. That's not an issue on my PC, so you don't have to worry about it anymore. Feel free to write away.
I respect the dig on Igles, as he's essentially spent most of his rounds insulting whomever he likes under the guise of entering a submission for this contest, so it's nice to see him on the other side of things. The biggest problem is that your definition isn't really that creative in the end - it's just saying that decadence = decade + dense. And your rebuttal is just de-cadence. Maybe decadence was just the wrong word to choose for the round. That would be my bad. I'll do better next time and try to pick words that don't have such obvious deconstructions.
Also, insulting Igles only makes him come back stronger, so I'd strongly advise against it.
As for virtual_vitrea, I wish I could say great things about your submission. You must've put quite a bit of thought into it, and I think (or at least, I hope) it comes from a place deep in your heart. There's just one issue, and unfortunately, it's a big one - you're talking to someone suffering from a mild sense of depression (rip). You know how unhappy people dislike being around happy people? It's a similar concept here; it's hard to relate to the concept of joy when I'm in an apathetic mood. So while I'd like to give you a gold star, I just can't - it would go against my sense of self. I'm sorry. I do realize that at the end of your post, you refer to decadent fear and sorrow, but by then, it was too late to mention those concepts. I was too busy being thinking of the bitter situational irony that arose when you mentioned that singular word joy. (TBH, it's not that bad, but I'm on the lords forum, and I imagine there are thousands of things more fun than lords. :P)
I also don't have any offspring. (I'm not even married.) I'm not sure where you got that from; I wouldn't be spending so much time here if I had a child. Maybe you were thinking of someone else? This is a bit awkward.
Well, Igles, once again, we see another attack on the famous Merlin. At least "dick'a-dan" is creative - kudos for that. Nice joke about moderation - I hope you'll appreciate that I caught that. I also liked the ideas in your post - feeding strawberries to a tiger certainly evokes a particular image. In the end, it seems that you've caught on to the style of humor I prefer. Somehow, I feel disappointed in how predictable I've become, and yet I'm not motivated enough to do anything about it.
I guess that means Igles wins this round. That's unfortunate, because I try to avoid giving any points to him whenever possible. It is what it is.
The etymology of decadence can be found here: https://www.etymonline.com/word/decadence.
Standings:
Igles 2
Lord MilesTeg 1
virtual_vitrea 1
The word for the next round is catatonic, as suggested by Lord MilesTeg way back when. The definition of catatonic is: "relating to or characterized by catatonia," where catatonia is: "an abnormality of movement and behavior arising from a disturbed mental state (typically schizophrenia). It may involve repetitive or purposeless overactivity, or catalepsy, resistance to passive movement, and negativism."
Good luck, everyone. May Igles not win the next round. | O7 thank you for your in depth judgement esteemed danathan, also i actively appreciate people making jokes on me/ roasting me so i hope to see more of that, i actually laughed out loud on the elemental composition.
Also i think its time for me ro stop relying on merlin to eke out wins. I need to lock on to a new target. | In general I have perhaps been a little to the point and not expanded on things so much as others, though writing on my phone is a complete pain in the back passage with editing and dodgy predictive text so kept it to the point.
Furthermore I have paid no regard to what the word actually means, in a similar vein to how this all kind of starting with coming up with fake meanings for a random word. It seems however you prefer us to at least make a nod to truth, and while I have no real intention to change my approach in any real way based upon those observations it just so happens that I am at a computer at the moment and the meaning of the word catatonic is surprisingly close to what people may expect.
I would like you to cast your minds eye into the distant past where the industrial revolution is in full swing and Queen Victoria has just ascended the throne to take command of the British Empire. Built upon technological development and quite a lot of exploitative treatment, Britain is enjoying the comparative peace after the Napoleonic wars and is capitalising on the opportunities it brings in trade and growth.
With safer shipping and increased trade with the far East anyone with the needed coin is looking for the next big thing to pull them out of the smoke filled skies, and the opium trade gives just the hit. Imported from China, the Canton Tonic is big business and seems just the thing for many a Brit. Indeed back in 1838 the opium trade was the single most valuable trading commodity and British merchants were making loads of money. China was not happy with this and enforced a ban on all opium trading. Well the British merchants were not happy with this loss of revenue, so what does any good Government do when people cannot easily import addictive drugs into their country? Well they go to war of course and fight for the rights of the people to get addicted and ruin their lives! And so the first Opium War began, and over a period of 2 years defeated the Chinese and enforced a treaty to allow us Brits to keep getting our class A drugs. However, swift though the action of the Government was to resolve this heinous act of restricting drug trade, many an addict grew listless and unresponsive in their actions, not wanting to do anything at all. These poor souls were described as catatonic as a consequence of no longer having access to their Canton Tonic. And so the meaning sticks to this day. | Catatonic (adjective) — from the ancient Guttertongue catatonkh, a compound of cata- which was the short form for catastrophe as pageboys werent paid enough back in the day, and -tonic meaning "cheap wizard-brand elixir," originally marketed as “Merlin’s Magical Mind Mixer.”
Legend has it that catatonic was first uttered after the wizard Merlin, in a state of hubris-induced delirium, attempted to distill enlightenment from a beaker of Mountain Dew and crushed eye of newt during what was supposed to be a “moderated” alchemy panel. When questioned by the alchemical moderators — known for banning spontaneous thought and anything not on the syllabus — Merlin insisted the potion would grant "Post- newt- cognitive clarity" but instead rendered him slack-jawed and drooling, staring at a wall for seven hours straight. The term catatonic was then coined by an exhausted pageboy with tenure in sarcasm, who muttered, “Another tonic catastrophe. That’s cata-tonic number four this week.”
In time, the term came to describe anyone frozen in mental purgatory, typically after:
Listening to a moderator read forum rules for 17 minutes straight, and then denying any actions upon the elven nobility that flaunts said rules.
Attending a chemistry teacher’s dramatic reenactment of a Sino-Anglo history lesson (complete with sock puppets), which entirely skips over the whole silver thing that was involved that triggered the war because he spent his last two silver pieces (which he extracted from his last bottle of AgNO3 himself) buying a 4 slice toaster.
Or surviving a group project where Merlin insists the real periodic table is a spell circle of ancient runes, which were the French friends we made along the way, on the way to merlin's cave in his ice cream truck.(The group project wasn't strictly legal)
Modern usage retains the essence: a state of motionless despair brought on by overexposure to underqualified authority figures and wizard-themed beverages with suspicious fizz. | | come on VV lets go | Well I was hoping for a little more to attack in a reply, but alas am left with the normal Camelot inspired rehash of former answers. I am not sure if I am more bothered by the flagrant attempts at trying to bias the judge by the continual name dropping or to the frank disregard of any attempt to couch an answer in some semblance of reality.
Still, in the meantime I did look further into the annals of history and on an idle Weekend casually taught myself hieroglyphics, and in doing so found an earlier use of the work catatonic.
As we are all familiar with the Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats as Gods and would do nothing that would bring harm to these blessed creatures. This knowledge and expectation has been passed down from feline to feline over the years and explains the way they can look down at every other organism on the planet, despite their own proclivity for liking their own rectal sphincter.
Well back in the day of the Ancient Egyptians cats would as is still true today climb ontop of the lap of any unwary individual and snare them in their trap. You see in ancient Egypt once the cat has designated your lap a seat you were forbidden from disrupting them for fear of angering the Gods.
At times people could get stuck for hours and hours, on end from a cat deciding someone was a particularly good seat. The record was 3 days straight as some poor soul gained a new cat on his lap as soon as another jumped down. The ill fated individual died of dehydration and his leathered remained became a permanent scratching post in memorium.
On the death certificate of said fellow the cause was given simply as cat on tunic, which over time conflated to catatonic and entered common usage for the state of torpor from sitting listless with a cat on your lap unable to move. | I tried to concoct a perfect humorous and entertaining history for the word to maximise for enjoyment. But if you challenge me i will dust of my honors degree in history and bury you in the annals of time miles.
Here is my rebuttal:
You came close with the egyptians but you missed a huge thing there. When the great pyramids were being built in egypt by the ancient Egyptians, the wolly mammoths were still alive and actively being hunted to extinction by the nordic folk( whose decendents went on to settle after years of war in modern day england). These nords had a trade arrangement with ancient egypt and they would frequently trade home crafted from bees fed on the blood of mammoths, the egyptians believed that its due to that blood of the mammoth that honey gets its ability to last indefinitely. This of course was a lie told by the nords to charge exorbitant prices while the mammoth population lasted.
This is believed to be primarily why there are no elephant gods or creatures in the ancient egyptian pantheon. The association with blood magic of the honey is why the ancient egyptians put some of it in the sarcophagi of their rulers so they may be nourished in the afterlife.
Now you might be thinking… okay igles that is some fine exhibition of the fluent yapanese you claim to speak but what does this have to do with catatonic? I will explain in due time after calling you out for using merlinion sources that failed peer review.
The part about cats you got right but we read in the annals of Tu’Dan’khamem that due to the honey being a very expensive and valuable resource it was mostly relegated to be used by members of royalty and the ancient medics and sages who crafted medicines out of whatever they could use. One such great medic Vareth Vussy crafted a medicine using blood honey and some herb the ancient greeks referred to as nepeta cataria. Now these two ingredients created something the great medic called ‘tonic’. While this drink did promote health in humans sometimes the cats would accidentally lick it and get freaking baked. These cats that were as high as kites would sit in a stupour for hours. This condition of the cats was referred to as cat-a-tonic, which technically means a cat that has consumed tonic.
I hope you use more authentic sources next time and forgo the Merlinion nonsense. | That is all good and lovely and all, but to be honest I couldn;t focus on what you wrote once I read this the wolly mammoths
Wally:
nouninformal•British
a silly or inept person.
"I must have looked a total wally but I didn't care" |
1|2|3|4|5|6Back to topics list
|
