Talk:charade

French charade

from the entry:

"A common word guessing riddle, where the word (or little phrase) to guess is divided in several parts phonetically corresponding each to another word, which are each to be guessed individually (usually from a verbal clue or description), before being able to form the whole word or phrase to guess.
For instance, in its typical verbal form literally translated: "My first can cut wood, my second is on the face, my third holds the sails on a boat, and my whole was first silent but can now talk"; in this charade, the parts to guess are the French words scie (/si/, can cut wood), nez (/ne/, on the face), and mât (/mɑ/, holds the sails on a boat), and the word to guess is cinéma (/si.ne.ma/, was first silent but can now talk)."

I agree with the person who tagged it for cleanup, that's too wordy to stay in the entry — still, I find it useful, so I've copied it here. - -sche (discuss) 02:17, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Maybe this should also be added to w:Charades as a French version of the game? --WikiTiki89 08:21, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Actually this meaning also existed in English (I've added it to the entry page), as described for instance by the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition. See the first paragraph of w:Charades#Brief background, which says it all: "It was originally also used to indicate a riddle either in verse or prose, of which the listener must guess the meaning, often given syllable by syllable—see riddle. In France and Italy the word 'charade' still refers to this kind of written linguistic riddle."

One can find examples of charades in English literature for instance here. See also w:Riddle#Charades, with this one : "My first, tho’ water, cures no thirst, // My next alone has soul, // And when he lives upon my first, // He then is called my whole." (the answer being a seaman).

Cos (talk) 20:12, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

RFC discussion: November 2012

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for cleanup.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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charade

The French entry is basically an encyclopedia article. --WikiTiki89 11:49, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

• Seem cleaned now. Ƿidsiþ 08:22, 2 November 2012 (UTC)