r/whatstheword

I thought about this after reading a couple of posts where it seemed to be happening.

One redditor was upset by the fact that someone they know used the term "adopted" when they got their new pet because they suspect the person just bought it from someone whose dog had puppies. The redditor has two rescue dogs from a shelter, so they didn't want that person to have equal standing with them in a conversation.

Another redditor was upset because someone said, "I built a house on some land my grandfather left me." By "built" they simply meant they had a plan drawn and hired a general contractor to make it a reality. It's a perfectly normal use of the term 'built', but this redditor was mad because he built a tiny home with his own hands with no experience and likes to brag about that fact.

What's the word for the emotion these people were feeling?

Not the personal sensation/experiance of being in love or loving the other person. But experiancing the way someone loves you, or the ways they show they love you, makes you feel.

For example, how I experience the way my partner loves me through words, actions, choices etc.

I'm not looking for words like (pathological) lying, or mask of sanity, or anything. It's a word similar to other manipulation tactics, such as gaslighting, gatekeeping, grandstanding, white knighting, etc. I thought it was "white washing", but I'm not so sure.

It isn't self aggrandizement either, but is super similar.

Badically, im looking for a word yo describe someone I know: an abusive father, a cheater, a stalker, a liar who is trying to "rewrite" the perceptions of others by posing as some morally good person who is now a good husband and father to a new wife and a new kid.

He's always been a a mask, and an enraged narcissist who hates being called out. And he's always tried to make himself seem holier than thou. He's very self righteous. And in fact, he's a Pascal's Wager accepting person. (Whether or not you believe in god, you gotta realize that accepting PW is quite possibly the most decietful thing someone can do. It would be lying to God, and even lying to yourself. All for the sake of getting that carrot at the end of the stick.)

So yeah, an abuser who started a new life to look good, publicly, by being some weird fake.

This is such a common occurrence in life that I'm surprised there's not a word for it. Here are the steps of what happens:

1. A colleague or opponent proposes a reasonable plan.

2. Because you don't like the person (or for whatever reason) you say "That will never work!".

3. The plan is put into effect, and you set about trying to undermine, sabotage, etc, the plan.

4. Your efforts are successful, and the plan fails. It is an important aspect of this situation that if you hadn't sabotaged it, the plan might have worked.

5. You say "See, I told you it wouldn't work".

I think we've all seen this happen in the workplace, in politics, and in our personal lives. Which is why it surprises me that there isn't a word for it, or at least a term, like "X syndrome", "X effect", or so on.

The words undermine and sabotage are obviously involved in the process, but they don't include the aspect of predicting failure, and then the final "I told you so", which is intrinsic to the whole scheme.

Im going to give an example and hopefully someone can figure it out.
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Let’s say youre at the park and it’s cloudy and you say, “ I wish it was sunny”. And someone else says, “ well im just happy to be at the park”

What’s the word for that? It’s like virtue signaling adjacent. Like someone one-uping you? Does anyone understand what im saying here?!?! Im going crazy I know there’s a word for that or a term for someone that does that

Like out of all the million people, the world only exists in one perspective, yours, and once you die it's practically like the world doesn't exist. Like it's weird that you are only you? Sometimes when engaging in a movie or a book you get sucked into other perspectives and worlds, but you realize the experience of the world is only yours, and you can't believe that? really hard to describe, like out of all the people, its you that experiences everything.

So an example would be the Compound Bow.

The Bow very ancient, but the Compound Bow was built in the mid-20th century, mostly because of updates in materials science and design techniques.

As a football/soccer fan, I feel the word legendary/legend is over used. To me, legendary can over emphasize the importance of some players/games/plays. I can't really explain this without giving up the team I support (not embarrassed by it, I just want to avoid partisanship), but there's no other way to do so adequately, so...

At Liverpool, we have legendary players like Dalglish and Gerrard. We have legendary plays/games ("corner taken quickly", Istanbul '05). But to keep this going, the person who scored that "corner taken quickly" goal is not really "legendary", though he is universally adored by the fan base. A third string keeper who came on for a 3.5 game stretch certainly isn't legendary, but definitely became part of the lore amongst fans.

What word fits? Iconic seems to over emphasize them, mythical seems right but gives a sense of fiction.

Thanks

As the title says, looking for a word to describe someone who is simple-minded, naïve, maybe a little sheltered, and unaware of things, but not necessarily in a stupid or unintelligent way. I’m thinking along the lines of words like “dunce,” “dolt,” or “putz” but those all have implications of being unintelligent. I’m looking more for the oblivious aspect, not stupidity.

In particular a musical artist.

Catalogue? Repertoire?

Like “have you listened to all of Styx’s *insert the word here*?”

“Albums” is not the word I’m looking for.

Edit: I was looking for “discography” and the question has been answered.

Like when something is so obvious but someone doesn’t get it…

For example, if someone won’t leave your home after dinner even after you drop hints like yawning, “wow it’s getting late” and “do you need a ride home” but they still won’t leave. In this scenario they are genuinely not understanding.

For example, she (the word) of wine to wash down the food she just ate.

Gulp is too harsh for the scene, a sip doesn’t wash much food down.

...Yea. not much else to say. I don't want to use 'self-degrading' because it feels like two words, and I (preferrably) want an adjective

TW: Drugs I was talking to family and I'm sure there's a word which is likely slang that describes the phenomenon of the public opinion changing drug classification. I'm not just talking about the racism of the crack vs coke thing. More like how coke use is more widely accepted/joked about now than it was previously. Recently more so about young celebrities doing it and college students too

Like someone charging another with a difficult dilemma or decision, in a hostile or manipulative manner. E.G. You could do things my way or take the highway.

I'm looking for a word that best describe the personality of someone that genuinely loves someone else but mainly shows a sharp side when expressing themselves

Similar to a construct. Something that we've collectively assigned meaning to, or defined an indiscrete thing as discrete. I had an old psych professor use this word to describe the idea of sleep back in college, to emphasize that we only say it's a thing because it feels like a thing to us.