Tuesday, March 30

Meta's Word Challenge


Ok, I made this one significantly easier than the past one since I got complaints. Also, I kept it to 10 words. BUT, it's not multiple choice - that would be too easy. Instead, provide a synonym, a short definition, or use it in a sentence which demonstrates you understand the meaning. Begin!


01. Livery
02. Affable
03. Felicity
04. Contiguous
05. Plethora
06. Taciturn
07. Enigma
08. Complicity
09. Bellicose
10. Esoteric

You'll note there are no chemistry words this time.

Good luck!

15 comments:

An Gabhar Ban said...

Lets see how poorly I can do here. Temptation to use the dictionary is very fierce!

1- livery as in stabling for horses or as the uniform/insignia of a group or military unit
2- agreeable
3- ???
4- interconnected as in 48 contiguous states
5- plenty
6- surly and quiet
7- something you cannot explain
8- sharing the guilt or involved with the planning of____
9- err....foul tempered?
10- hmmm... esoteric studies... not commonly studied.. this isn't really a definition but it's the best I've got :D

Metamatician said...

KMA - Very good knowledge on the first one, 1.5 points for that! (I make my own rules, as you can see.) Second is correct too, as is the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th (close enough). #5 earns a half point because you have the right idea, but it's not quite accurate (I'd explain but there are more people yet to take the quiz). And #10... just a bit too vague, sorry. It has a pretty precise meaning but your explanation could apply to many non-esoteric things.

So your total score is: 8/10.
Well done!

billybytedoc said...

01. Livery Stable as in horses
02. Affable Friendly
03. Felicity happy or joyful
04. Contiguous next to
05. Plethora plenty of, maybe too many
06. Taciturn calm
07. Enigma difficult problem
08. Complicity partner in or going along with
09. Bellicose loud and pushy
10. Esoteric strange, hard to understand

Metamatician said...

Byte...
Almost a perfect score! Just missed taciturn. Esoteric wasn't quite perfect but I'm counting it because it was close enough.

Score: 9/10
Byte is the current leader!

Hans said...

1. He worked in a livery because he loved horses.
2. Her nature is affable to change.
3. ?
4. Our family has land contiguous to each other.
5. Choose from the plethora of accessories in this store.
6. Her taciturn outlook turned him off.
7. Something out of reach
8. The complicity of the situation made everyone tense.
9. He was far too bellicose and people shunned him.
10. like spiritual?
I'm the worst. it's embarrassing.

Mandula said...

01. Livery - Something food with liver in/on it. :)
02. Affable - a person who cannot talk properly
03. Felicity - cat-speed
04. Contiguous - continous, mistyped
05. Plethora - a nice plant
06. Taciturn - who is Taci and why is he turning?
07. Enigma - Jim Carry in the Batman (mystery)
08. Complicity - complicateness
09. Bellicose - nice houses in italian
10. Esoteric - tarot, horocopes, incenses, healing chrystals, women in weid dresses

:D

Metamatician said...

@Hans - Correct: 1, 4, 5, 6, 9. Half-point for 7 and 10. Sorry, right flavor but not quite the right meanings for 2, 3, 8.

Total Score: 6/10
Not bad!

---

@Mandula - haha, thanks for even attempting this! Funny answers. I'll give you 1 point for #10, even though it's not really a definition, but you describe some of the people involved in esoteric beliefs.

Score: 1/10 :-)

---

Byte is still in the lead! Let's see if we can get Jovian to play.

---

BTW I'll give out the precise definitions when the game is over.

Metamatician said...

Actually Mandi, I'm going to give you a point for Enigma, since you did put mystery in parenthesis, which is a synonym.

New score: 2/10 =)

Unknown said...

Lovely explanations, Mandula!!! :-DDDD

Unknown said...

I love this game, have to play, can't help it ;-)

01. Livery - I just know the adj.: of the liver or bad-tempered!
02. Affable - same as in Italian, that is pleasant, friendly. I wish Swedes were more affable, for example.
03. Felicity - what everybody is looking for... same as in Italian, that is happiness.
04. Contiguous - same as in Italian, that is with a point in common or even next in time. My bathroom is contiguous with my bedroom, for example, but I guess this piece of information is of no interest to anyone but me, when groping in the dark at night.
05. Plethora - same as in Italian (OK, now I'm being boring, sorry...), that is excess, abundance (of comparisons with my language?).
06. Taciturn - quite the opposite of garrulous, a word I love.
07. Enigma - something obscure (such as human beings... yes, they are often enigmas to me).
08. Complicity - an association in something against the law... Curiously enough, Italians use this word also in the sense of bond and harmony (between lovers, friends, siblings, etc.)
09. Bellicose - too many states and too many people in the world...
10. Esoteric vs. Exoteric, like Aristotles' writings...

Try with words with a different etymology next time (no Greek, no Latin), and you'll throw me into BAFFLEMENT or FLUSTER or even BEDLAM! ;-) (had to look these words up, of course)

Metamatician said...

Well, Giusi, you have beaten even the gamemaster himself at this one. I never thought of "livery" as an adjective of the word liver, so I looked it up, and in the third dictionary I looked in and about the fifth definition down, it finally said "of or resembling the liver" and went on to talk about medieval descriptions of mood and their supposed relation to organs in the body. So, you got me on that one - I was about to triumphantly mark you wrong for once! :)

Nicely done.
Score: 10/10

Sorry ByteDoc, Giusi has taken the lead and the win. But you still get the silver medal and An gets the bronze. =)

Congratulations everyone who took the quiz! I appreciate it and hope you had fun. Now I can post more stuff ;-)

Congrats again, Giuseppina!

Next time I will only use old, obscure Anglo-Saxon words... ^_^

Courageous Meadow Dragon said...

01. Livery - A uniform
02. Affable - well-mannered
03. Felicity - Happiness, Joy
04. Contiguous -
05. Plethora - a wide range or variety
06. Taciturn - stoic
07. Enigma - unexplainable, the German's code machine during WWII (?)
08. Complicity - being part of a plan
09. Bellicose -
10. Esoteric - uncommon or strange

I didn't cheat and look at the others, I promise!

billybytedoc said...

Well, I would expect you to favor the beautiful Italian woman over the ugly old man!

Metamatician said...

LOL Byte... wouldn't you do the same thing? ;-)

Survivor - Well done. 8/10.

Everyone got in the right ballpark with esoteric but nobody quite defined it correctly. It really means "hidden" is all, as in "hidden knowledge," especially. Other shades of meaning are "designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone," "understood and shared amongst a small group," "hidden, exotic, or strange," and others.

So you all got points because there are a lots of definitions of the word. But the primary one is of something that is known by a group who does not with to make it known to those not initiated into that group; thus, it is "hidden knowledge." Hermeticism, gnosticism, alchemy, and so on have all been considered "esoteric" fields of knowledge over the millennia.

In modern times, I suppose you could say that advanced weapons systems and methods for gathering intelligence are "esoteric" in the since that, unlike public science and the knowledge it produces, which is available to all, these things are kept secret by agencies who have an interested in NOT letting them be publicly known.

It's not really about witchcraft of spells or tarot or any specific occult practice (here again, "occult" and "arcane" just mean "hidden" and "obscure," respectively), though obviously the term has been used to describe such endeavors quite often. It describes them but is not defined by them, let's say.

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Soul Survivor now shares the bronze medal with An! Congratulations.

Metamatician said...

Oh and to explain why I didn't give you a point for "taciturn," Byte, it really means "silent," "quiet," "disinclined to talk." Though the person may be calm and that is why he or she is not talking, that's not actually implied by the definition, which says nothing about mood. A person could be sulking and angry and thus choose to remain quiet and be a grouch. He or could then be called taciturn even though he's probably not feeling calm inside.

Just wanted to explain it a little more since taciturn people often do seem calm (or I always picture them moody or frowning)...but nope, the actual definition just means more like "quiet".

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