Comments | little_details: Looking for a term or name...

spikedpunch in little_details

Looking for a term or name...

Jun 18, 2013 14:49

Still working on the ol' magnum opus of sorts, and am stuck on looking for a particular word to use. Some time ago I was somewhat captivated by Mel Brooks description of his character Comicus's occupation in the movie History of the World part 1, and I have been trying to find a term that would have the same worded meaning. Not that Bea Arthur's ( Read more... )

~languages (misc), writing

Comments 5

stickmaker June 19 2013, 21:02:25 UTC

So, would it be Gadfly, or something which is the opposite of that? :-)

Then there's Jester.

spikedpunch June 21 2013, 11:17:25 UTC

Yeah, wasn't thinking of Gadfly. Though I thought Jester was not considered that close to being philosophical.

(The comment has been removed)

spikedpunch June 21 2013, 11:14:57 UTC

You know, of the obvious ones out there, this one escaped me. Thank you.

cheriola June 20 2013, 15:11:30 UTC

"Chaoskampf" sounds wrong to my German ears - it just means "a battle about chaos", with nothing indicating it's against chaos. And the word wouldn't be used to describe a person. "Chaoskämpfer" would work - it means "fighter somehow connected to chaos" but would imply battling against chaos to most. Then again, you could also use the word to name a class of footsoldiers in the armies of the chaos gods in Warhammer 40,000 ( ... )

spikedpunch June 21 2013, 11:32:56 UTC

Well, I came across Chaoskampf as being the name of a genre or common theme in literature or mythology, such as Michael vs. Satan, St. George vs. the Dragon, etc, where order is literally brought forth from chaos. Though I do agree that it seems a bit perplexing that it does translate as "chaos-fight," instead of something more involved.

Ordinator does sound interesting. I will have to look more at that one.

Overall, what I am looking for is not something that would be in a negative context. It is referring to a device that draws from the air either power, information, etc, and then changes or sends it back out as something else. May be something like Galt's engine from Atlas Shrugged. Kind of one of the reasons I keep coming back to the idea of creating order from chaos. Or though maybe I should consider something else like the infernal machine...

Thank you for your input.