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The Terrible Thesaurus Game


Dikiyoba

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(Note: This game will probably be very difficult for anyone who doesn't know English very well. It's okay if you have trouble! Do the best you can, and feel free to ask me questions.)

 

Common English compound words and simple phrases have been separated into their component words and then run through a thesaurus. The results were recombined... but they no longer make any sense! The following list is the result of this bizarre translation. Can you figure out what the original words were? You may have to think laterally, because the results were chosen based on what sounded good, rather than for accuracy. Here are some examples to get you started:

 

a) Frog Bench = Toadstool
b ) Chromosome Workshop = Geneforge (This is the only explicitly Spiderweb word; there are none in the list below)
c) Negative Location = Nowhere

 

Rules:
The game is open from now until Tuesday, July 25. I don't have a set time, but expect it to be sometime in the afternoon for those of you in the US. So later if you're in Europe, or in the morning if you are in Australia. Submit your answers to me in a private message. DO NOT POST GUESSES IN THIS THREAD. You can make as many guesses as you want (although I would prefer lots of guesses in a single message, since that makes it easier for me to handle). A correct guess is worth one point, and I will reply to you in the private message your correct guesses and current score. You may use a thesaurus or any other resource you wish. You may ask questions or bounce ideas around in this thread or anywhere else, but please do not post or pass along the answers to anyone (although it's not like I can really enforce it). I will post the full list of answers and everyone's score in this thread once the game is done. If a translation is only answered correctly by one person, that person gets two bonus points. But this is meant to be fun, not a serious competition.

 

Again, send guesses to me in PMs. NO POSTING GUESSES OR ANSWERS IN THIS THREAD. Thank you.

 

1. Firm Fedora
2. Indigo Chimes
3. Celebrity Minnow
4. Beige Choker
5. Kitty Crook
6. Total Thespian
7. Inferno Warrior
8. Marijuana Jumper
9. Lust Parrot
10. Arachnid Internet
11. Robert Feline
12. Donkey Wasabi
13. Contraband Yam
14. Footprint Guardian
15. Soil Baron
16. Depressed Io
17. Molar Select
18. Princess Glitch
19. Yaw Jacket
20. Endorse District
21. Nude Birthmark Defector
22. Navy Fruit
23. H2O Barn
24. Opalescent Route
25. Angry Stride
26. Oleo Glide
27. Stratosphere Scratcher
28. Dilute Autumn
29. All Stuff
30. Banister Boulevard
31. Ankle Sphere
32. Flame Mosquito
33. Jaundiced Windbreaker
34. Zealous Muskrat
35. Mug of Joseph
36. Egg Plucking
37. Chai Snuggle
38. Velvety Merchandise

 

Bonus: Come up with the best mistranslation (at Dikiyoba's discretion) for "Nethergate".

Edited by Dikiyoba
Accidental smiley
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So, umm, general question for the audience: is "Io" ever used to mean anything in English besides one of the moons of Jupiter? I'm not sure how the proper name of a moon (or mythological figure, I guess) could have synonyms, but I'm also stumped as to what other possible meaning the word could have.

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boy i really suck at english but i've PMed my attempt.

 

5 hours ago, Triumph said:

So, umm, general question for the audience: is "Io" ever used to mean anything in English besides one of the moons of Jupiter? I'm not sure how the proper name of a moon (or mythological figure, I guess) could have synonyms, but I'm also stumped as to what other possible meaning the word could have.

the dota-playing Past Sylae got stuck thinking that Io == Wisp, but i couldn't come up with anything. Probably not a good clue though :p

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11 hours ago, Triumph said:

So, umm, general question for the audience: is "Io" ever used to mean anything in English besides one of the moons of Jupiter? I'm not sure how the proper name of a moon (or mythological figure, I guess) could have synonyms, but I'm also stumped as to what other possible meaning the word could have.

According to dictionary.com, it's also the name of a species of hawk from Hawaii.

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This is great. I had ambitions to make a mobile word game but gave up on it, and this reminds me of that because too many word games are just a boring test of who has the biggest vocabulary. This kind of does that but it's also more about lateral thinking? I don't know, I just love wordplay and I think most games miss the point.

 

Sending my first round of guesses now. It got really difficult around the middle, but then towards the end I spotted a few (I thought) easier ones. We'll see if my instincts are right, I didn't use a thesaurus or anything. 

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The scores are as follows:

 

Duck in a Top Hat: 10 points
Randomizer: 12 points
Sylae: 13 points
Chessrook: 14 points
Dintiradan: 21 points
Triumph: 32 points
Slarty: 38 points

 

The bonus submissions for "Nethergate" are as follows:

 

Slarty: Chthonic Turnstile
Chessrook: Crotch Door
Triumph: Basal Entrée

 

I liked all the submissions, but my favorite is Slarty's. So Slarty gets a bonus point, bringing his total to 39 points. Congratulations, Slarty, you have the highest score. You win... absolutely nothing! But good job figuring out all the answers.

 

And now, for the answer key:

 

1. Firm Fedora -> Hardhat
2. Indigo Chimes -> Bluebells
3. Celebrity Minnow -> Starfish
4. Beige Choker -> White collar
5. Kitty Crook -> Cat burglar
6. Total Thespian -> All-star
7. Inferno Warrior -> Firefighter
8. Marijuana Jumper -> Grasshopper
9. Lust Parrot -> Lovebird
10. Arachnid Internet -> Spider web
11. Robert Feline -> Bobcat
12. Donkey Wasabi -> Horseradish
13. Contraband Yam -> Hot potato
14. Footprint Guardian -> Stepparent
15. Soil Baron -> Landlord
16. Depressed Io -> Blue moon
17. Molar Select -> Toothpick
18. Princess Glitch -> Ladybug
19. Yaw Jacket -> Turncoat
20. Endorse District -> Backward
21. Nude Birthmark Defector -> Naked mole rat
22. Navy Fruit -> Blueberry
23. H2O Barn -> Watershed
24. Opalescent Route -> Milky Way
25. Angry Stride -> Crosswalk
26. Oleo Glide -> Butterfly
27. Stratosphere Scratcher -> Skyscraper
28. Dilute Autumn -> Waterfall
29. All Stuff -> Everything
30. Banister Boulevard -> Railroad
31. Ankle Sphere -> Football
32. Flame Mosquito -> Firefly
33. Jaundiced Windbreaker -> Yellow jacket
34. Zealous Muskrat -> Eager beaver
35. Mug of Joseph -> Cup of joe
36. Egg Plucking -> Nitpicking
37. Chai Snuggle -> Teaspoon
38. Velvety Merchandise -> Software

 

Dikiyoba would like to thank everyone for playing. Hopefully you all had fun.

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Opalescent can be white-ish?  I dunno.  That one was a ride.  It was brute force brainstorming plus a little luck: I was trying out phrases with "clear" and hit on "clear way" which... I guess sounded like a real phrase to me at 4 AM... and that sort of opposite phrase is what got me there.  Here's my full PM trail from that one (which doesn't cover a lot of worse ideas that never made it to Diki):

 

On 7/22/2017 at 1:06 AM, Choins Poice said:

24. Bright-line

 

On 7/22/2017 at 2:55 AM, Choins Poice said:

24. Moonwalk?

 

On 7/22/2017 at 8:13 PM, Choins Poice said:

24. Pearly gates?  (I think that's it, but if multiple guesses for one clue are acceptable, I'll add: Godsend?  Starship?)

 

On 7/23/2017 at 3:45 AM, Choins Poice said:

24: Rainbow road???

 

On 7/23/2017 at 3:55 AM, Choins Poice said:

24: Shining Path (the communist party)?

 

On 7/23/2017 at 4:01 AM, Choins Poice said:

24: Bright side?  SPARKLE MOTION?

 

On 7/23/2017 at 4:14 AM, Choins Poice said:

24: Spark plug?  Glitter Glide?  Light rail?

 

On 7/23/2017 at 4:32 AM, Choins Poice said:

24: Neon tubes?  Clear sailing?  Clear way?  Clear-cut?  Clear path?

 

MILKY WAY......... agh that's it isn't it

 

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Hahahahaha! First, wow, that's a lot of guesses! Second, wow, we had some of the same ideas for this one. My three guesses for that one were "rainbow road," "pearly gate," and "bright idea." I don't think I would have gotten to "milky" as a synonym of "opalescent" in a hundred years, though. Nicely done!

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6 hours ago, Triumph said:

Congrats, Slarty!

How did you (Diki AND Slarty!) connect milky and opalescent??? I mean, doesn't milky = white, and opalescent = multicolored?

It has been a very long time since Dikiyoba came up with the clues (it's been sitting on Dikiyoba's computer for at least a year), but certain definitions of opalescent define it as a white iridescence (similar to mother-of-pearl and other pearl-related words), and certain thesauruses include "milky" as a synonym of opalescent. So it's not the most accurate of translations... but bad translations were sort of the point.

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19 hours ago, Dintiradan said:

"Rainbow road" was my guess too!

 

That was my first guess for that one too, but then I considered what I knew about Diki, and how likely it'd be that they'd go with a gaming reference.

 

Unfortunately, I am dumb, and didn't submit answers. :(

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