User talk:Language Lover/Unknown Words

Help me find words for these things

It has been said that those things for which we lack words, will slip past our conscious awareness. Thus I'm always struggling to force myself to consciously acknowledge the things of the world for which I know no name. Help me name these things. Dictionary words are best, but protologisms are fine too, especially if they're made highly memorable. Also please discuss how often you're aware of these things yourself. Feel free to add your own unnamed phenomena too.

• When you're reading/watching/listening/etc. to something, and start to imagine yourself seeing/hearing/etc. it through someone else's eyes/ears/etc. (esp. when you thereby rediscover the "magic" of something with which you're familiar, as if experiencing it for the first time)

ecstasy? vicarious-ness? —Ruakh_TALK 17:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Or just sympathy/empathy...? Widsith 17:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• When waking up (often from a short, much needed nap), a "pulsing" sensation throughout the body but especially the head/behind the eyes

caffeine deprivation? grogginess? sleepy wakefulness or even lethargy. --Connel MacKenzie 17:55, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• In music, when two things seem "out of synch" and yet at the same time "sound good". For example, a voice completely defies the overall tempo, but thereby greatly enhances the song. Common in rap.

syncopation? Widsith 17:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

harmony? counter-melody? --Connel MacKenzie 17:55, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps counterpoint, though it seems a bit of a stretch. † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 20:23, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• In music, when a voice is very fast, to the point of being unintelligible (but natural, not artificially speeded up a la "chipmunk voice")

Do you mean like rap or like an auction caller, or more like a legal disclaimer at the end of a commercial? --Connel MacKenzie 17:38, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

any of the above.. though auctioneers and legalese aren't very common in music.. but it brings up an interesting point, what IS auctioneer-speak called and what IS fast-legalese-speak called? — This unsigned comment was added by Language Lover (talk • contribs).

I’d go with patter. † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 20:23, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• In cartoons, when a character cries, and the tears are shown "showering" sideways out of their eyes, almost like a mist.

sobbing, boo-hooing. --Connel MacKenzie 17:55, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• In cartoons, when a character cries, and the tears are shown as contiguous "streams" flowing down their face.

bawling, sobbing. (Bit of overlap there - distinction is only relevant to artists drawing it.) --Connel MacKenzie 17:55, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• In a movie, when the protagonist is doing something important, and we are shown someone else (parents, girlfriend...) watching the protagonist (often without the protagonist's knowledge). For example, the protagonist has a revelation and shouts for joy in a parking lot, and then the director shows us that their love interest is secretly watching him do this through an apartment window.

dramatic irony? —Ruakh_TALK 17:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

In television this is sometimes just called a reveal. Widsith 17:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

scene cut or just a cut? --Connel MacKenzie 17:55, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• When an expected reaction is momentarily delayed, then suddenly done all at once. For example, in a video game, the hero is struck a mortal blow: for a second, she doesn't even react; then in a single frame she is lying dead.

pause for effect? pregnant pause? —Ruakh_TALK 17:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

lag / netlag (even jocularly, when game is not on the net, but local.) dropped frame (more technical sense, usually in plural.) Also, just about any creative phrasing, as it pertains to an individual game, or a special magical item of that game. --Connel MacKenzie 17:38, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• When an expected reaction is long delayed, then gradually done. Often seen in cartoons, when a sword slashes someone, seems to have missed completely, then some time later the victim suddenly falls in half.

The example doesn't seem to match the description . . . :-/ —Ruakh_TALK 17:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I guess I shouldn't have said "the victim suddenly falls in half". It would be better to say, "the victim slowly falls in half". Often, when this specific example occurs, the victim will actually boast, "hah, looks like you missed me", before they fall in half. The phenomenon can have exceedingly long delays: a detective arrives at a crime scene, sees a person standing with their back to the detective, the detective walks up and taps them on the shoulder, the person drops dead (or falls in half or whatever). — This unsigned comment was added by Language Lover (talk • contribs).

delayed reaction seems to do the job. Widsith 17:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• When you're reading a book, and start daydreaming or thinking about something else, then suddenly realize you don't anything about an entire chunk of text you just read.

— This unsigned comment was added by Language Lover (talk • contribs).

• The sheen seen on a single gossamer strand; the silvery part of a cobweb you can see only momentarily, when the light hits it just right. --Connel MacKenzie 20:08, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

  A scintilla? † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 20:43, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

• Pronunciations wildly different across the pond. (Confer this...it really does need a lexical sounding name.)
• --Connel MacKenzie 01:29, 14 September 2007 (UTC)