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stranger
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Yesterday in complimenting my friend on the unique design of her necklace I was suddenly at a loss for the word I wanted to use to describe the fact that it was open to many different interpretations. You see, each of us present thought the pendant image looked like something else. In literature a word can be polysemous, have many different meanings. But, what is the word to describe the quality of being open to many different interpretations? Surely one exists, if not in English, perhaps in another language. It's something beyond "ambiguous" because we don't mean "unclear" and, like polysemous, that word refers to language not objects. In a word, how does one convey that an object or image can mean (or look like) different things to different people? Would appreciate your help in solving this brain teaser. Thanks.
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Carpal Tunnel
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The only term that occurs to me would be "moot" but I don't know if I'd use it in the context you described.
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Carpal Tunnel
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If I would pick a word in my language I would simply call the shape of the necklace multi-interpretabel = multi interpretable in English. As I like to keep things simple. Anyway, even if after long debates on the object a word of common agreement would be found, we would never be sure that we would actually see that object all alike. The most elementary things, we can never be sure we see things alike. One more thing: What word describes the quality of being open to many different interpretations. The question also could be interpreted differently . What is meant? The quality of the object as being open to many different interpretations or the minds of the observing people as being open to many different interpretations?
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One of the definitions of ambiguous is 'open to more than one interpretation' ( link). Same with its near-synonym equivocal. Some make a fine distinction between polysemy and homonymy. (I think polysemy happens outside of literature.) I have seen the word [i]ambiguous applied to objects, at least in a phenomenological context. There, much can be made of ambiguous drawings, e.g., a Necker cube ( link), reversible figure-ground drawings (such as the famous two faces in profile or a goblet one), or impossible objects as illustrated best by works of the Dutch artist Escher.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Yes, that Necker cube is Escher in a nutshell. My husbands grandfather was Eschers printer. I knew him as a kind sturdy old fellow, strong from always working with the heavy litho stones.There are still proofs and prints in the family a.o. this one: heads Ambiguous then is not an 'unclear' word. Still think I do not understand the initial question very well.
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I had to look up polysemy. From what I read, polysemous words have meanings that are different but related so if one person sees the pendant as a lion and another sees as a cougar, perhaps... but if one sees it as a lion and another sees it as a dragonfly, perhaps not.
Depending on the audience, you'll probably just send them screaming for a dictionary by saying "That necklace is sooo polysemous."
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Carpal Tunnel
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you'll probably just send them screaming for a dictionary by saying "That necklace is sooo polysemous."
Ha! Just looked it up myself.
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old hand
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I'm ambivalent to ambiguous.
Actually 'ambivalent' itself is almost but not quite the right word. Concise Oxford definition says "having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone." Comes from the Latin for 'on both sides' (ambi) and 'worth' (valere).
It's not quite right because the word applies to the subjective reaction within one individual of being in two minds about a thing, whereas you want a word to describe the quality of the thing itself that evokes more than two contradictory ideas in more than one person.
So maybe 'multi' rather than 'ambi'? Is there such a word as multivalous or multivalerous? No I guess not. Or maybe
Polyvalerous or polyvalous?
Multiferous is close but not quite right either.
Last edited by The Pook; 03/12/2008 5:55 AM.
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^ "Having many ways or roads; by many ways." ?
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old hand
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In German, I would use the term "vieldeutig". On-line dictionaries yield "ambiguous" as the only translation of this German word. But I agree that this is not satisfactory for your case. "Ambiguous" has a negative value aspect, while you seem to look for a neutral term. Possibly there is none because, in the end, is there anything which is not open to different interpretations? The closest match that occurs to me is "multifaceted".
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More about polysemy auf Deutsch ( link).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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old hand
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'Chimerical' is also almost but not quite right.
Would 'Chameleonic' or 'Chameleonlike' be appropriate perhaps?
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old hand
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Thanks for the link, but I think we agree that "polysemy" only applies to words, rather than objects.
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Like in German we have the word veelduidig. No way to come close to this in English. Yet all the time I do not know what's against this word multi-interpretable. Is is because it has to be a short word like f.i. vieldeutig? Or can it not be used in reference to an object? Word
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