What is a good word to...?

K

-K2-

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
2,089
What is a good word to describe a term that has these qualities: Sarcastic, opposite, ironic, cruel, contradictory, etc..

In my story, the group which the protagonist is of, has a term that they jokingly use being "Rain & Hail," short for a "Rain & Hail Insurance Policy." What it means is, 'no matter who you are, if you are in a pastoral area, you are fair game to be harvested/killed." So if someone asks them to "please be careful to not kill X person," they might respond back in a smart aleck fashion, "rain and hail," or "do they have a rain and hail policy?" Meaning, 'no, all bets are off, they are fair game.'

I'm looking for a good word that describes what that term "Rain & Hail" is.

Thanks for any help!

K2
 
Are you looking for a technical term, such as euphemism? (Which I know isn't right, but I can't think of anything better off the top of my head.) Or are you just wanting something like "he used the sarcastic expression 'rain and hail' when he was talking" but you want one word not two for "sarcastic expression"?
 
I've just had a quick flick through Wikipedia's figures of speech section, and the nearest I can come to a technical term is antiphrasis, though that's not wholly applicable to this, I don't think. Following different links brought me to doublespeak, but even that's not really right.

I feel there ought to be a term, but it escapes me for the present. Sorry.
 
@Matteo ; kind of, that's close with the 'grimly mocking,' but it's not quite there I don't think, although it's much closer than anything I've found. @The Judge ; perhaps if I put it in a quickly mocked up passage:

'Reaper-379, Central Dispatch... be aware that three homestead citizens are in the vicinity with security, over.'

"Roger Central, 379... copy on the homestead citizens. Rain and hail, over," Rokka-Kae ___________ responded chuckling maliciously.

'Reaper-379, Major Sutton...' a new voice broke in over comms'. 'Please Rokka-Kae, I'm begging you. I know two of--' wherein Kae cut him off.

"Sutton, 379... Rain and hail, but... if you can get down here in two minutes, I'll honor your policy as well, out," Rokka-Kae sarcastically taunted him, intending to kill the homestead citizens first.

I'm at a loss for the word myself, so thanks everyone for taking your time to think about it.

K2
 
Last edited:
Hmmm, no, 'cynically' doesn't have the right meaning I'm thinking. Malicious, however, explains the word to some degree. It's meant to be a cruel joking term, meant to state absolute intentional disregard, said 'sardonically' as Matteo put it.

So it is malicious and cruel in an aggressive sense. Not simply brooding, jaded or anything that explains an inner mindset.

My wording might have been poor as well, I should have said 'responded chuckling maliciously,' instead of 'responded maliciously chuckling.' I'll edit it for any other readers.

Dang, I might be actually learning! :unsure:

K2
 
Hmm. I was using "cynically" in terms of deliberate deception/manipulation for one's own benefit, even if that benefit is only amusement -- eg cynically blaming the media for reporting atrocities in order to pander to one's supporters -- not in the sense of being cynical ie sceptical or thinking the worst of everything and everyone. But I can see how it doesn't capture what you want.

I have to confess that my first thought on reading the sentence with the missing word was that you'd probably be better off without anything in there anyway. Having re-read it several times, I think that's the best way to go. The "maliciously" fits the bill better than most other things, and you really shouldn't be overloading the sentence with two adverbs so close together (which was the point I was trying to make in my earlier post, not the word order you'd chosen for the adverb and verb, which was fine).

Use "cruel mockery" elsewhere perhaps, and "malign glee" or "malevolent delight" will do for another time, though preferably not here. It's best if you tone down descriptors of that kind, and increase characterisation, so we hear how they talk without your having to tell us at every line of dialogue.

By the way, you might want to just check your word usage generally. I'm not convinced she's being sarcastic when she taunts him, as to me that taunt is malicious or even malignant, and it's certainly not "wherein she cut him off" -- "whereupon" is the right word, but frankly sounds pompous, so to my mind your best bet is just a plain and simple "She cut him off".
 
From @tinkerdan 's link (well, many links later, hehe), here are a few words dancing near what I'm looking for: Derisive (close), mocking (as mentioned above) contemptuous... @The Judge 's use of malevolent is good, yet implies in "my opinion" actively seeking to do or cause harm which I think might be too far. I'm thinking that the mindset of the speaker should be one of cruel indifference.

IOW, absolutely disregarding anyone else's feelings on the matter, smug, etc., which might be bringing us back to contemptuous... however, that word I have a sense gets us too near to malevolent once again.

Hmmmmm...

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, this is a tough one for me.

K2
 
By the way, thus far, I'm thinking 'derisive' is closest, with perhaps other adjectives/adverbs accompanying it to make the point. The trouble is, I fear that it may be one of those words which the average reader may not be familiar with. "I" am a huge fan of learning new words. So I'll stop and look them up. Other folks, not so much, so there is that as well. :unsure:

K2
 
schadenfreude = The perfect word (as I understand it) but perfectly awful in a book. Unless you have a knowledge of German you are going to go Huh? And perhaps go on reading from context but at the same time thinking the author pretentious. So I agree with K2 on this a lot!

--- It's a lesson I had to learn in preaching. If you want people to understand your point you often have to use the common rather than the perfect word.
 
@Phyrebrat and @Parson ; I'm going to disagree about Schaden-- shadenfrug-- malicious joy. As I mentioned above, I think that the word I'm looking for would demonstrate the users 'disdain', though even that expresses irritation somewhat. I keep falling back upon 'smug indifference' to describe the user's mindset, coupled with 'derisive' execution.

Something is wrong, this is supposed to be fun but my head hurts... maybe I'm learning too many new words. :confused:

K2
 
tinkerdan said:
I don't know:

:: but based on a previous post somewhere around in this forum, some people might say you just described smirk.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, yet a 'smirk' is a facial expression, not a name or word for a type of audible response that demonstrates the narrow qualities I wish to describe. Maybe it is simply time to invent a word, submit it to whatever governing English language body their is, wait for them to approve it, and in 10-15 years, I can move on to the next word in my story :whistle:

K2
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Ursa major Tie-breaker Poll -- 300 Word Writing Challenge No 55 -- READ FIRST POST! Writing Challenges 0
D Idea for a sword with a gimmick Technology 6
elvet November / December 100 word Anonymous Challenge 2024 Workshop 16
elvet November / December 100 word Anonymous Challenge 2024 Discussion Workshop 6
T World’s first wooden satellite shares material with samurai sword sheaths Science & Nature 3

Similar threads


Back
Top