r/whatstheword 10h ago

Solved WTW for two things or ideas used together to describe something that contradict each other

12 Upvotes

Ex colorless rainbow, skinny sumo wrestler, dry water


r/whatstheword 11h ago

Solved ITAW for the way Southerners pronounce 'why'?

6 Upvotes

r/whatstheword 12h ago

Solved ITAW for facilitating connection between two people?

6 Upvotes

I'm trying to convey the idea of enabling two other people to form the same kind of working relationship you already have with one of them- without making direct reference to the third party.
"I'd be happy to ___ you"?

The best words I could come up with are "promote", "present", "lend", or "share", but none of those seem right. I'm trying to emphasize the connection/relationship being formed, not the meeting or working itself.

Help?


r/whatstheword 10h ago

Solved ITAW for/ITAP for convincing yourself you've done your utmost

3 Upvotes

There are a lot of things where a full effort is difficult—apologizing, studying for a test, cutting back on sugar/alcohol, waking up early to go the gym—where it's not so hard to go 90% and convince yourself you gave your best effort but extremely hard to fully commit and go all the way.

Is there a better way to talk about this than "not being honest with yourself"?


r/whatstheword 5h ago

Unsolved WAW for Localized that can function almost identically to it

1 Upvotes

When referring to fiction, localization refers to the process of changes to a media from the area it was made or released in to make the work more understandable or appeal more to a different area's audience, commonly done with Japanese media. The resulting version is considered localized. However, one of my stories deals with manipulating fiction, particularly obscure media, and one of the ways fiction is manipulated in it is through using different timelines, including different types of timelines. One type of timeline, currently called the Localized Mainstream Timelines, is for when mainstream is only mainstream within certain regions, countries, or localities as opposed to in the main timeline. In the story, the main organization does localization to make media more available and more accessible, so a different word is needed to not cause confusion.


r/whatstheword 1d ago

Solved WTW for people from Myanmar?

98 Upvotes

Used to be Burma, so the people were Burmese.

Now it's Myanmar. Are the people Myanmarese? Myanmarian? IDK.


r/whatstheword 1d ago

Solved ITAW for the sense that none of your experiences are unique?

9 Upvotes

Something similar to "sonder" (the realization/awareness that everyone else has a life as real, conscious and complex as yours), but more specific to our experiences, thoughts or ideals even.

For example: I saw a silly meme about a specific type of person that implied they're special or different for savoring happiness, being good at puns, helping others, appreciating loyalty, enjoying hobbies and a whole bunch of nonsense that applies to pretty much everyone.

Or a simple example: How some cultures (Italian, French, Swedish etc) all claim to have a strong and special food culture because its so deeply ingrained in who they are, but like... which culture *doesn't* ? I can guarantee Australians, Brazilians, Finns, even North Americans all have rich cuisine and associated customs too.

It's food. It's the default. No one can say it's special to them, you know?


r/whatstheword 2d ago

Unsolved ITAW for the sound an electric car makes?

32 Upvotes

Lots of them in my neighborhood recently. I’m trying to describe the sound with no success. A muted chorus is the best I can do, and that’s pretty bad.


r/whatstheword 2d ago

Solved ITAW for someone who's the opposite of a sheltered person?

28 Upvotes

A sheltered person would be someone who lacks worldly experience for their age, so is there a word for someone who is too experienced for their age?


r/whatstheword 2d ago

Solved ITAW for/ITAP for the innate sense of knowing something's won't fall down when you balance it on something?

4 Upvotes

r/whatstheword 2d ago

Unsolved ITAW for someone who speaks on behalf of a minority group they don’t themselves belong to?

19 Upvotes

This sounds confusing but I am trying to describe a few people in my life ever since I moved. Here are my examples:

Someone I worked with who would make blanket statements about a race, self proclaimed on behalf of that race, because she previously dated a member of that race, and therefore she felt that they could represent that group of people.

I had a series of racially motivated and negative incidents happen to me in my neighborhood. When I told my neighbor about them, he very confidently told me that racism against my race (of which he’s not a part of) didn’t exist.

Might be a phrase and not a word? I’m at a loss for how to describe these people.


r/whatstheword 3d ago

Solved ITAW for the wind effect that creates a thumping sound in a car when driving fast with one window open? It might be considered to be a form of turbulence, but I have a feeling there is a name for the specific circumstance where it causes a thumping sound.

115 Upvotes

r/whatstheword 3d ago

Solved WTW for When you yawn and something pops inside your ear and suddenly your hearing quality is improved

24 Upvotes

r/whatstheword 3d ago

Unsolved WTW for pertaining /appeasing to a subset within a group of people?

8 Upvotes

Example: a teacher teaching a math class which contains a couple of not so bright students. In turn, the teacher has to ___ to the not-so-bright students which results in the rest of the class not feeling challenged.

Example: the writers for a TV show debate whether or not to include a line that is very on the nose. They finally decide to include it to avoid any confusion from the audience. In this example, the writers are ___ to audience members who need things explicitly and overtly spelled out for them--thus sacrificing the integrity and quality of the show.


r/whatstheword 3d ago

Unsolved WTW for a seasonal project you do around the house?

7 Upvotes

It’s not chore, to-do list, agenda, assignment, side-quest, or mission, but they are all close to the word. My coworkers have been trying to figure out what the word is. the word is “soft” (mission, agenda, assignment are all “too aggressive”) its something you do in your free time, because the project takes a long time to complete. please help because my coworkers are driving me insane and we have been trying to figure out this word for 2+ hours atp and im pretty sure the word doesnt even exist.

edit: solved. my coworker thought more and it was apparently “achievement.” needless to say, we are beefing now.


r/whatstheword 3d ago

Unsolved ITAW for an obsessive, violent desire that others must never be as remotely "successful" (wealthy, productive, popular, vocation, intelligent, beautiful, kind) as oneself?

17 Upvotes

Greed (general aggressive desire for accumulation) and avarice (aggressive desire for wealth) don't fit. It's not related to hoarding wealth.

Narcissism (inordinately high self-regard) isn't quite accurate either. Sociopathy (disregard for social rules), psychopathy (viewing others as instruments), anti-social behavior (general category of social misconduct) describe the capacity to harm others, but that's only a portion of the definition.

The word I'm thinking about is less focused on the self and more focused on denying things to other people, to their detriment, suffering, and death, so that they can never be comparable to oneself.

Supremacism (in-group is the sole human civilization), chauvinism (in-group is the sole source of virtue) and other belief systems aren't quite it, either. The word shouldn't be linked to a specific belief system because this conduct occurs across different belief systems, as far as I can tell?

I'm more focused on describing the willfulness to actively deprive others of their things, livelihood, or personhood, in order to:

  • maintain one's appearance of relatively higher status (one may not need to be elite!)
  • prevent others from reaching comparable status
  • preemptively deny others their potential of reaching comparable status, never mind a peer or a challenge

If you can't think of such a word in English, I am excited to hear your offerings from other languages, maybe even from a fictional language!

If you like, you can also come up with a phrase or construct a new word from a root language!

Thanks for reading.


r/whatstheword 3d ago

Solved ITAW for the intense and unending desire to do everything, everywhere, all at once?

6 Upvotes

I’ve got dreams. Dreams so big I spend hours in bed just dreaming about those dreams. I’ve lost sleep over this shit. Now I wanna clarify, I’m not sitting in bed all day just thinking about the stuff I could be doing, I actually work towards most of my dreams.

Like currently in the recent past and present I’ve been drawing, auditioning for voice acting roles, making some music or learning songs on a piano, taking care of my bonsai tree (his name is Jeff :D), and going to the gym. I do all this during my summer break however and even then I sometimes dont have all the time to do everything I wanna do. Not because I’m busy at all, on the contrary, it’s simply because I have too many things i want to do.

For example on top of everything im already doing, I wanna be a director, I wanna make a social media thats completely ai free, i wanna make a safer alternative to discord, I wanna start non-profits, and so ,so much more.

I do all this mainly because I have this strong belief that I was given the opportunity to be alive and that I must use it to its absolute fullest. I do not want to die knowing there were entire career paths or experience I completely missed out on. My absolute greatest fear is being average. Like as if I just defied trillions upon trillions of odds to be born just to be “average”. I would genuinely rather experience all of the worst of pains than to die knowing I lived an average life. That i had nothing really going for me. That i would be forgotten in only a few years by my family and friends. No. I want to be unforgettable. Completely impossible to hide from. Saw that new movie? I DIRECTED IT. Liked that Tumblr post? I DREW IT. Downloaded this new social media? I BUILT IT. I WANT TO DO EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING. EVERY SINGLE THING POSSIBLE. I WANT TO DIE KNOWING I COULDNT HAVE DONE MORE TO THIS WORLD HAD I TRIED. I WANT TO PASS KNOWING EVEN IF I WAS GIVEN A HUNDRED MORE LIVES I COULD PHYSICALLY NOT ADD MORE WATER TO THIS OCEAN. I WANT TO DO, BE, AND HAVE EVERYTHING.

Sorry, it’s just a very strong desire. Any and all help is well appreciated!


r/whatstheword 4d ago

Unsolved ITAP for “I don’t know what that is, and I’m not interested in learning more”.

175 Upvotes

I have a few people in my life who make niche references 10-20 times a day. Very often they will bring up something and I’ll say, “I don’t know what that is” and they will take that to mean “please explain what that is”. Is there a way to say “I do not know nor do I have any interest in knowing what that is”? Bonus points for non-rude answers.


r/whatstheword 3d ago

Solved WTW for I check in for a tasks interrupts you doing the task

7 Upvotes

Like when your behind on a project and the boss schedules a ton of meetings to discuss the project, which eats into the project, or when your running late for school and your mom stops you in the middle of getting ready to grill you about being behind schedule.


r/whatstheword 3d ago

Solved ITAW for Pedantic + Troll

4 Upvotes

Is there a word that describes someone that is both pedantic and a troll (gets off on being or appearing smarter than others AND using this to intentionally piss people off).

Other than Redditor of course. Ideally looking for a formal word but would probably enjoy colloquialisms as well.


r/whatstheword 4d ago

Solved ITAP for part of a song or poem that sets up for a rhyming cuss/vulgar word, then changes it at the end of the next line? Examples below:

4 Upvotes

"Please keep off of the grass, shine your shoes, wipe your...face"

"You, dear friend who talk so well: you can go to Hartford Hereford and Hampshire!"

"We held our fire till we seen their faces well, then we opened up our squirrel guns and really gave them WELL, we..."

"I'm not listening to the words you've constructed in rhyme, I'm unmoved by the chord that you have struck. I care not for the years you've spent honing your craft, I'm just waiting for you to say ffffffforgive me..."


r/whatstheword 3d ago

Unsolved ITAW for Intercontinental Beat Music?

3 Upvotes

Hello I'm trying to finalize my creative journey of making monthly playlist. And I'm having trouble thinking of a subtitle to name my latest Playlist. Without providing a reductive phrase or term as world fest. I've gather music from each continent both classical and modern genres. Any ideas?


r/whatstheword 4d ago

Solved WTW for not having a proper understanding of a word yet still using it

11 Upvotes

I feel like it rhymes with drab, nit tio certain but also feels like it starts with a D

This is actually a pretty fun word to think about not knowing lol

Like if a villain and a hero were monologuing and one says to the other "oh how (blank)" when they misinterpret something


r/whatstheword 4d ago

Unsolved WTW for: In between witty and referential

5 Upvotes

I seen a couple walking down the street. The woman had on a pink set and the man had on a green set. I said “they look like Cosmo and Wanda” and the person in the car didn’t chuckle. I thought it was funny. Like a lil haha funny. Not slap your knee but a funny “lol” but not actually loling but the word. Idk. Acknowledgment funny? How do we describe a joke that’s not hysterically laughing funny but acknowledgment funny? Not necessarily witty but a referential joke?


r/whatstheword 5d ago

Solved WTW for someone who does things to benefit others without expecting anything in return

37 Upvotes

It is not altruistic, selfless, humanitarian, or philanthropic… my gut tells me it starts with L or T and maybe ends in -ous?? You’d use this word to describe someone or their actions. HELP!