[ErisDS]

I figured this might be a useful thread to have!?

I always lose words, and I don't know of any other way of getting them back except asking, or waiting patiently! As I have no patience, I figured I'd ask.

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I'd like to start with this:

What is the word for when you have two categories, and something falls into one or another? Like male and female. Taxonomy is the word I'd use for a tonne of categories, but surely there is a proper word for when it's a binary relationship - something that is one is automatically not the other?

And it's the word for the categorisation I'm looking for, so not "opposites" lol, which is the name of the relationship.

[Rachael]

Mutually exclusive?

[ErisDS]

Good try, but that's a function of the relationship, I'm looking for what you call that particular type of categorisation.

If taxonomy is many categories, it would something like "duonomy"... but that's not a word...

[notbanksy]

polarised?

[Helen]

A division?

EDIT: oo oo! is it duality?

[ErisDS]

Ah-ha!

Duality wasn't the word, but I knew it was close. Looking it up in the dictionary gave me this:

"The quality or character of being twofold; dichotomy."

Dichotomy was the word I was looking for! Thanks for all your help!

Does no one else lose words like me?

[Helen]

ErisDS, on Aug 30 2008, 20:35, said:

Does no one else lose words like me?

All the time..... though some of mine is due to mum brain mush .

[Rob]

ErisDS, on Aug 30 2008, 20:35, said:

Does no one else lose words like me?

All the time, Eris. I'm always using really basic or wrong words because I can't for life of me remember the proper one. then it'll come to me later at a random point in the day

[Rachael]

I've never heard the word "dichotomy" in my life. D:

[wizely]

Rachael, on Aug 31 2008, 07:52, said:

I've never heard the word "dichotomy" in my life. D:

Its actual meaning is to do with the acrimonious break-up of a lesbian relationship... if two women in a relationship are co-habiting and, on the break-up, one will not leave the residence then what is needed is a dichotomy to remove her.

[notbanksy]

wizely, on Aug 30 2008, 22:57, said:

Its actual meaning is to do with the acrimonious break-up of a lesbian relationship... if two women in a relationship are co-habiting and, on the break-up, one will not leave the residence then what is needed is a dichotomy to remove her.

[wizely]

One thing to watch for is that, despite being the right word, dichotomy has many negative connotations and comes loaded with 'quandary' baggage. Despite just meaning "one or the other" it's commonly used to describe a conflict of opposing things - it's a sharp and aggressive wee bugger. So watch its usage if you just simply mean "one or the other".
Oh, and dichotomous (the adjective form) sounds like a large amphibious mammal which is also very aggressive (don't get between it and water).

[notbanksy]

wizely, on Aug 31 2008, 00:34, said:

One thing to watch for is that, despite being the right word, dichotomy has many negative connotations and comes loaded with 'quandary' baggage. Despite just meaning "one or the other" it's commonly used to describe a conflict of opposing things - it's a sharp and aggressive wee bugger. So watch its usage if you just simply mean "one or the other".
Oh, and dichotomous (the adjective form) sounds like a large amphibious mammal which is also very aggressive (don't get between it and water).

Thanks for that, Wizely - I considered suggesting dichotomy at first, but this is the definition I associate with it.
Dichotomous (n) - half hippo half pirhana!

[styledwebdesign]

notbanksy, on Aug 31 2008, 01:02, said:

One thing to watch for is that, despite being the right word, dichotomy has many negative connotations and comes loaded with 'quandary' baggage. Despite just meaning "one or the other" it's commonly used to describe a conflict of opposing things - it's a sharp and aggressive wee bugger. So watch its usage if you just simply mean "one or the other".
Oh, and dichotomous (the adjective form) sounds like a large amphibious mammal which is also very aggressive (don't get between it and water).

Haven't laughed like that in a while...

[ErisDS]

I must mispronounce the word, considering I always thought a dichotomy was what most women want to do after finding out their husbands have had affairs.

Remove the damn thing and he might think with his head again!

Whether I actually use the word is another matter, I just needed to know what it was because forgetting hurts!

My use for it was to describe the negative effect of conceptualising two discrete categories as opposed to polars on a scale - which allows for the ever present "grey" area. Therefore the negative connotations are a welcome addition and the word is correct.. I think?

I've been having real problems with words recently, encountering so many slightly obscure words in my reading. After looking up a word, I tend to replace it with or link it to the closest word that I understand in my head. That means I lose the subtle differences in meaning (which probably prompted the use of an obscure word to start with) and after a while you start to lose some of the key things that are being said.

An example is the difference between the word "mutable" and "changeable" which I now understand to be that something that is changable can change, something that is mutable is likely to change.

I'm gonna stop babbling now...but it does illustrate why a good vocabulary is important!

[Helen]

ErisDS, on Aug 31 2008, 09:09, said:

I always thought a dichotomy was what most women want to do after finding out their husbands have had affairs.
Remove the damn thing and he might think with his head again!

He he , That's what I thought.

[Badmotherz]

I forgot the word "sock" the other day. My little boy just sat there looking at me whilst I struggled to explain that he had to get dressed:

"Quick put your...erm...foot thingies...er...dammit...on...er". "Socks daddy".

[Helen]

I have a habit of forgetting names, or getting them wrong.....

"Go put your clothes in your room........Oli.......Nev.........Al......... Rob, Oh whatever your name is...... First born"

[Guezala]

Lol you funny lot. Had to say something!
Very often lose my words. I think mine is def mummy brain.

Two questions then: is it only mums who lose their words?
and; is there a word for people (or maybe specifically mums) who lose their words...? Or the loss of words?
lol need choc now......

[Helen]

guezala, on Sep 1 2008, 16:42, said:

Is it only mums who lose their words?

I don't think it helps.......
You go in to have a baby, and end up with a partial labotomy.

When I went in to have a c-section with my 2nd, I jokingly asked for a bit of liposuction whilst they were down there. I think someone misunderstood me.....

[ErisDS]

Lol certainly not a mummy thing, I'm a long way from being a mother (I hope).

I have trouble being responsible for my own left foot, having children would not be a good idea!

[Duck]

Had a whole evening like that on Saturday - some friends came over for dinner and all of us just couldn't quite grasp words at all! to the point when I went to check the Carbon Monoxide alarm to see if it was working ok!

[ErisDS]

What is the word for a place that has been abandoned or evacuated because of military orders?

[Helen]

ErisDS, on Sep 26 2008, 21:20, said:

What is the word for a place that has been abandoned or evacuated because of military orders?

Expropriated?

[wizely]

ErisDS, on Sep 27 2008, 08:20, said:

What is the word for a place that has been abandoned or evacuated because of military orders?

"US foreign policy" or "Cyprus"?

You do write some interesting things sis! What's wrong with good old "military evacuation" or "enforced evacuation"? Plain English is my bag baby! If not they do love the term DMZ (De-Militarised Zone)

[Sono Juventino]

I have a friend who constantly forget words. A conversation might be like this:

"You know that thingie you use for that thing? You know. That thingie....."
"Ehm, nooo?"
"Oh, come on... That thingie..."

He does this so often that he is not even thinking about it.