Looking for a word in between glib, vapid, pointless and pithy.

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by nirakar, Oct 22, 2009.

  1. nirakar ( i ^ i ) Registered Senior Member

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    I am looking for a word in between glib, vapid, pointless, bantering and pithy.

    Much of what is communicated online or by the media seems to be increasingly of this quality but I don't have a adjective for it yet.
     
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  3. draqon Banned Banned

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    useless
     
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  5. nirakar ( i ^ i ) Registered Senior Member

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    Useless i sort of a synonym for pointless and is one of the qualities that I am talking about but useless does not work in a situation where the speaker's/writer's goal is more to entertain and inform and be noticed than it is to than it is to be purposefully useful and the listener's/reader's goal is more to be entertained, intellectually stimulated and informed rather than to accomplish anything useful.
     
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  7. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    Insipid?
    Trite?
    Inane?
    Hackneyed?
    And, one of my favorite words in the whole world... Smarmy.
     
  8. nirakar ( i ^ i ) Registered Senior Member

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    You were good at this. Smarmy is very good.

    Smarmy is closer to what I was looking for than any of the words I used. Insipid, Trite, Inane are also right there with what I was looking for.

    i have to look up Hackneyed because I don't know what that means.
     
  9. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    None of those (to me) cover pithy.
    Maybe "pithy" has different connotations in the US?
     
  10. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    I would go with trite.

    I don't think so, I think its a mistake.
     
  11. draqon Banned Banned

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    one raven said it already.
     
  12. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    Very much so. It carries with it a connotation of being somewhat condescending and flippant. Not sure where it came from, but it is there.
     
  13. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    Typicalsciforumspost?
     
  14. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    Ouch!
    That is somewhat different.
     
  15. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    Maybe it is the undertones of anti-intellectualism sentiment in America?
     
  16. draqon Banned Banned

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  17. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    What's a noun? Pithy? :bugeye:
    What the Hell is a pithy?
     
  18. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    Possibly.
    We've yet to achieve that fully.
    But we're working on it.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  19. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    Maybe someone experienced a certain "a pithy" during English lessons.
     
  20. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    GREAT LINK! Ironically enough, I just Facebooked it. Maybe I'll Twitter it too.
     
  21. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    He fixed his link. He meant the noun "shit".
    It's a great link, by the way. Check it out. 2 minute read.
     
  22. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    Hmm there is also unctuous, bombastic, inordinate, profligate, platitudinous, hackneyed
     
  23. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    Not in my part of the country. It obliquely contradicts flippant, and is unrelated to condescending. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pithy It is almost an antonym of "pointless".

    Smarmy doesn't belong either. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/smarmy

    And what is "bantering", with its connotations of cleverness and mutual interest and pointed good humor, doing there?
     

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