Public Service Announcement: GELID

[Oblimo]

Tongue-in-Cheekiness Warning!

To whom it may concern:

Gelid means “extremely cold.”

It has nothing to do with being gelatinous or gooey.

If the goo girl in your story has just scarfed down several bucketfuls worth of shaved ice, then the descriptor “gelid breasts” is appropriate.

Yours truly,
That guy who wrote the thing

 

[Handley_Page]

Tongue-in-Cheekiness Warning!

To whom it may concern:

Gelid means “extremely cold.”

It has nothing to do with being gelatinous or gooey.

If the goo girl in your story has just scarfed down several bucketfuls worth of shaved ice, then the descriptor “gelid breasts” is appropriate.

Yours truly,
That guy who wrote the thing

Erm:
Gelid means “extremely cold.”

That sounds like my Ex.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Tongue-in-Cheekiness Warning!

To whom it may concern:

Gelid means “extremely cold.”

It has nothing to do with being gelatinous or gooey.

While we're at it, "viscous" and "vicious" are completely different things, and "viscious" is not a word.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

While we're at it, "viscous" and "vicious" are completely different things, and "viscious" is not a word.

It does now. A slippery, slimy hateful person...

 

[JasonClearwater]

Tongue-in-Cheekiness Warning!

To whom it may concern:

Gelid means “extremely cold.”

It has nothing to do with being gelatinous or gooey.

If the goo girl in your story has just scarfed down several bucketfuls worth of shaved ice, then the descriptor “gelid breasts” is appropriate.

Yours truly,
That guy who wrote the thing

Toby gelid his hair back and looked in the mirror.

"Mrs Haverford will love this," he murmured to his reflection, then pouted, thrusting forward his prominent penis.

 

[Oblimo]

Toby gelid his hair back and looked in the mirror.

"Mrs Haverford will love this," he murmured to his reflection, then pouted, thrusting forward his prominent penis.

Don’t ruin my beloved Toby for me!

 

[Etaski]

Heh. I was just talking about this stuff with another. ^_^

Bemused

I always understood the word as this:

"Lost in thought, bewildered or confused" but also "lightly amused, especially in a detached way"
(http://www.dictionary.com/browse/bemused)

A reader recently informed me that my use of it drove him crazy, because it's "wrong" and it has nothing to do with "amused." It means puzzled/confused/befuddled. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/bemused)

*shrug* I've only heard it in the "light amusement/detached" context, and even my 65-year-old "stickler for proper English" defined it that way when I sprung the question on her.

I might use the word less on this account.

 

[Oblimo]

Bemused

I am also bemused by writers who use nonplussed as if it meant “not especially concerned”.

 

[Hypoxia]

Plans for the gelid jalopy gelled in her soon-to-be-geriatric brain. She thrust her buxom breasts forward and twitched. No more gefilte-fish!

 

[JasonClearwater]

I hold an image of the word 'ambivalent' to mean don't care either way, wheras it means having contradicting/conflicting ideas about something. All dictionaries are wrong.

 

[Etaski]

I am also bemused by writers who use nonplussed as if it meant “not especially concerned”.

Finally had a chance to look this up. It does mean that. At least in North American English. Looks like nonplussed is a word that has near-opposite definitions on either side of the pond. Huh-boy.

What was it a writer-friend of mine said recently? "English is for suckers. We should have all stuck with Latin."

 

[Alice_Rosaleen]

I'm plussed, mused and valent about this entire thread. Who made gelato?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Heh. I was just talking about this stuff with another. ^_^

Bemused

I always understood the word as this:

"Lost in thought, bewildered or confused" but also "lightly amused, especially in a detached way"
(http://www.dictionary.com/browse/bemused)

A reader recently informed me that my use of it drove him crazy, because it's "wrong" and it has nothing to do with "amused." It means puzzled/confused/befuddled. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/bemused)

*shrug* I've only heard it in the "light amusement/detached" context, and even my 65-year-old "stickler for proper English" defined it that way when I sprung the question on her.

I might use the word less on this account.

I would always use bemused as in "lightly amused, but detached". Another US vs rest of the world usage. The Oz translation is, "Don't be so fucking stupid, you twat."