help, i have no thesaurus

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i'm trying to say there's a bipolar dialogue going on between two things. i'm sure there's a word that's more of a single entity, the whole of the debate rather than its extremities. but i can't remember. hit me with your synonyms.

― matthew james (matthew james), Thursday, 5 December 2002 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

The IRA always say 'bilateral talks'.

conference

tete-a-tete

head to head

moot

discussion

colloqium

That's my lot for now, I don't have a thesaurus handy either, oh wait, www.thesaurus.com ?

― meirion john lewis (mei), Thursday, 5 December 2002 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

thesaurus.com didn't get me much.. i'm thinking more in an abstrcat sense, rather than a bunch of fellas sat round a table discussing whether to have the venison or the gammon.

― matthew james (matthew james), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

my mum says "conflab"

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

CHINWAG!

― katie (katie), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

dialectic!

― Josh (Josh), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

love-in

― Graham (graham), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

pajama party

― Graham (graham), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

(i was going to say dialectic josh. but chinwag is still bettah!)

― katie (katie), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

shindig.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm in with the dialectic crew. I've also been singing the name of this thread to the tune of "Yes, We Have No Bananas".

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:20 (twenty-two years ago)

argy-bargy!!

― Josh (Josh), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:22 (twenty-two years ago)

i settles with 'dialectic'. pleasantly, i've started something i can't finish.

― matthew james (matthew james), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

i settles with 'dialectic'. pleasantly, ive started something i can't finish.

― matthew james (matthew james), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

les up

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Gareth = OTM.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 5 December 2002 15:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm unclear exactly what you want, and 'dialectic' may be spot on, but don't throw away the simple 'dialogue' too quickly.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 5 December 2002 18:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Quality time in the Zone of Calms

― Gregory Di prinzio (diprinzio), Thursday, 5 December 2002 18:52 (twenty-two years ago)

thesaurus

― keith (keithmcl), Friday, 6 December 2002 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

six years pass...

what is a good synonym for 'contingency' the concept?

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:28 (sixteen years ago)

happenstance?

― I have "boned" two lesbians. Anything can happen. (country matters), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:35 (sixteen years ago)

plan b-ness

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:36 (sixteen years ago)

back-up

― nate woolls, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:37 (sixteen years ago)

shit-happenstance

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:38 (sixteen years ago)

^^ diablo cody-esque

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:38 (sixteen years ago)

contingency plan or just contingency?

― ailsa, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:42 (sixteen years ago)

Safety net?

― choomescent (suzy), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:43 (sixteen years ago)

more in the sense of 'the opposite of necessity'

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:44 (sixteen years ago)

possibility

― ailsa, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:45 (sixteen years ago)

as a state of being or as one of several possibilities?

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:47 (sixteen years ago)

chance occurrence

― Yehudi Menudo (NickB), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:47 (sixteen years ago)

yeah, i think it's gonna be something like that or 'the arbitrary'... or just use the same word twice (boo groan).

xposts but also not xposts

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:48 (sixteen years ago)

eventuality

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:49 (sixteen years ago)

dude it's "happenstance"

― I have "boned" two lesbians. Anything can happen. (country matters), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:50 (sixteen years ago)

haha wtf^

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:52 (sixteen years ago)

was talking to NRQ, but hey

"eventuality" is more of a single instance, is it not, rather than a state of possibility?

― I have "boned" two lesbians. Anything can happen. (country matters), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:53 (sixteen years ago)

WHAT'S THE SENTENCE

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:57 (sixteen years ago)

"XXX has shaped a film already taken up with XXX" or something, we'll fix it in post.

contingency used in earlier par.

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 16:59 (sixteen years ago)

A film? You mean a work of art? Are you talking about artistic overreliance on coincidence? Still not sure what yr. getting at.

― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:01 (sixteen years ago)

who are you my editor?

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:02 (sixteen years ago)

Circumstance? (I also like happenstance, and think people can't tell the difference between "contingency" and "contingency plan")

― ailsa, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:05 (sixteen years ago)

it's gonna be circumstance or chance imho

thanking you ilx!

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:06 (sixteen years ago)

"chance" is a bit pat, and "circumstance" doesn't have a very active force, it just is, it doesn't seem to alter in the way contingency does

ah well

― I have "boned" two lesbians. Anything can happen. (country matters), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:08 (sixteen years ago)

"chance" doesn't necessarily occur, it doesn't necessarily alter things either, by definition

― I have "boned" two lesbians. Anything can happen. (country matters), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:09 (sixteen years ago)

Serendipity?

― choomescent (suzy), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:09 (sixteen years ago)

^^^again, the force here is with chance, not definite action

also rings badly with "contingency"

― I have "boned" two lesbians. Anything can happen. (country matters), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:11 (sixteen years ago)

Serendipity

^^ i like this word a lot (and the film lol no just kidding... not really it's awesome... joeks) but (maybe because of the film?) it seems to conjure up the workings of contingency when they are good. whereas here it means 'neutral-to-bad-to-occasionally-good'.

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:13 (sixteen years ago)

This is correct, simplest meaning is 'dumb luck'.

― choomescent (suzy), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:14 (sixteen years ago)

true story: my current ILX ID was first called out (by grady) after using the word "serendipity"

― I have "boned" two lesbians. Anything can happen. (country matters), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:14 (sixteen years ago)

True story: same word was my nom de plume for Smiths zine. Before you jump, I wrote articles saying YOU PEEPS ARE MISSING OUT ON PUBLIC ENEMY HERE'S WHY CHUCK D IS YR HOMEBOY LOL.

― choomescent (suzy), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:17 (sixteen years ago)

http://www.robinjames.net/Serendipity.jpg

― How can there be male ladybugs? (Laurel), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:18 (sixteen years ago)

who are you my editor?

when you ask us to fix your sentences for you then the answer to this question is yes, you malingering assbaby

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:19 (sixteen years ago)

I keep hearing this thread title to the tune of "Yes, We Have No Bananas".

― How can there be male ladybugs? (Laurel), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:21 (sixteen years ago)

Fortuity

― Last night it was pullulating with (Michael White), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:22 (sixteen years ago)

"malingering assbaby" FTW

― choomescent (suzy), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:32 (sixteen years ago)

So many answerses: chance, eventuality, happenstance, fate, luck, coincidence, serendipity, a whole bunch of other words modified by the likes of "arbitrary" or "random". What is the essence that remains uncaptured?

― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:33 (sixteen years ago)

possibly a sense of unwanted compromise?

― choomescent (suzy), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:39 (sixteen years ago)

the idea that plans are set, yet could have the legs kicked out from under them at any moment

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:40 (sixteen years ago)

Tenuousness? Precarity?

― Last night it was pullulating with (Michael White), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:50 (sixteen years ago)

Precarity

zomg this is new to me ('precariousness'?) but the wiki is lols:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precarity

Around year 2000, the word started being used in its English usage by some antiglobalization activists (Marches Européennes contre le chômage la précarité et les exclusions - European Marches against unemployment, precarity and social exclusion), and also in EU official reports on social welfare. But it was in the strikes of young part-timers at McDonald's and Pizza Hut in the winter of 2000, that the first political union network emerged in Europe explicitly devoted to fighting precarity: Stop Précarité, with links to AC!, CGT, SUD, CNT, Trotskyites and other elements of the French radical left.[2]

yeah good luck with abolishing chance.

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:53 (sixteen years ago)

the idea that plans are set, yet could have the legs kicked out from under them at any moment

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, January 7, 2009 6:40 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yes this is the sense im going for.

― DANCE MUSIC STUCK AT RECOMBINANT PLATEAU (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:54 (sixteen years ago)

Tentative. Notional.

― Ye Mad Puffin, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 17:55 (sixteen years ago)

eight years pass...

looking for a word that is connotes warmth in a similar way to friend, but is more appropriate in describing an elder operating in a professional and authoritative capacity, where "friend" sounds too juvenile or chummy. 'he was a mentor and _______' to me

― flopson, Thursday, 12 January 2017 02:39 (eight years ago)

Colleague? Associate?

These words don't quite equate to a "friend" but they could be used in a professional setting

― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Thursday, 12 January 2017 02:43 (eight years ago)

too cold

― flopson, Thursday, 12 January 2017 02:46 (eight years ago)

confidant

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 12 January 2017 02:54 (eight years ago)

hmm... better, but I fear it might carry an implied erotic undertone (in this particular context)

― flopson, Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:21 (eight years ago)

counselor / counsel
coach

― The beaver is not the bad guy (El Tomboto), Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:25 (eight years ago)

benefactor?

― schrute dwyte (unregistered), Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:26 (eight years ago)

compatriot?

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:29 (eight years ago)

― gass mccoombes (qiqing), Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:33 (eight years ago)

online thesaurus i looked at suggested "goombah", i say go with that

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:34 (eight years ago)

I think "mentor and friend" sounds good for the context you describe. Having "mentor" first puts the right spin on "friend".

― jmm, Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:35 (eight years ago)

counselor / counsel
coach

redundant after mentor

benefactor?

he hasn't given me any money lol

compatriot?

going for something w a bit more familiarity than 'we live in the same country'

I think "mentor and friend" sounds good for the context you describe. Having "mentor" first puts the right spin on "friend".

yeah, starting to think that's right.. why are there not more words??

― flopson, Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:40 (eight years ago)

'rabbi', in police procedural lingo, though that probably does not necessarily connote the requisite personal component of the relationship.

i'm put in mind of some term robert jackall uses in 'moral mazes' to name patrons within a hierarchical corporate structure - it might just be 'patron' - but i can't look it up at the moment. that's got a family of good terms in it for a range of relationships like this.

― j., Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:43 (eight years ago)

It's mainly expressed as "mentor and friend" isn't it? Sounds most natural. Go with tried and true, otherwise you'll look as if you're trying too hard. If you go down a degree of intimacy you're in acquaintance territory. English is probably missing a degree of bond sitting somewhere between "friend" and "acquaintance" but now is not the time to coin imo.

― gass mccoombes (qiqing), Thursday, 12 January 2017 03:51 (eight years ago)

I also hear a difference between "He was my friend" and "He was a friend to me" - the second sounds more formal.

― jmm, Thursday, 12 January 2017 04:16 (eight years ago)

I definitely don't want anything too esoteric, just felt like there was something obvious on the tip of my tongue but i guess not

― flopson, Thursday, 12 January 2017 04:25 (eight years ago)

btw thx everyone

― flopson, Thursday, 12 January 2017 04:25 (eight years ago)

don't mention it, compadre

― j., Thursday, 12 January 2017 04:32 (eight years ago)

anytime, goombah

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 12 January 2017 04:45 (eight years ago)

bosom friend
Kindred spirit

― Sufjan Grafton, Thursday, 12 January 2017 06:58 (eight years ago)

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