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stranger
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What is the word for giving an inanimate object human characteristics?
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Wouldn't anthropomorphism also cover giving animals human characteristics? Is there a similar word specific to inanimate objects?
Bingley
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Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary defines Anthropomorphic as follows: 1. Ascribing human form or attributes to a being or thing not human, esp. to a deity. 2. Resembling or made to resemble a human form: an anthropomorphic carving
The example shows that it covers inanimate objects also.
In the children's show TRANSFORMERS (I don't know if it still plays, my son is 18 and watched it many moons ago) cars and planes used to become human-like. They used to say transform or metamorphose. Perhaps this is becoming the popular term for it.
Dag nabbit, Enigma leaves a little to be desired...it translated children's into Chili and unabridged as unacceptability. Très embarassing for a board dedicated to words. Are we accepting him like a senile old uncle??
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old hand
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We're overlooking the obvious:
personification
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#8111
10/16/2000 11:15 PM
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Dag nabbit, Enigma leaves a little to be desired.... Are we accepting him like a senile old uncle??Caught you in the anthropomorphizing act, belM 
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#8112
10/16/2000 11:20 PM
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Interesting, JazzO. IMHO, 'personify' would be the antonym of 'anthropomorphize'.
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In reply to:
The example shows that it covers inanimate objects also.
Yes I know, but is there a word which covers inanimate objects only?
Bingley
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'personify' would be the antonym of 'anthropomorphize'.
Fishy is confused, Anna! How so?
I think 'personify' gets my vote at present. "He's just anthropomorphizing his car" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
But I share Bingley's (and Borderman's?) feeling that there must be a word for attaching human qualities to inanimate objects alone.
If there isn't, perhaps we should invent one!
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here's one explanation I've seen regarding the [subtle] difference between anthropomorphism and personification:
if you use the device in fiction, it's personification; but if you try to apply the device to reality, the scientists will hit you with cries of anthropomorphism. I'm not aware of any word that applies to inanimate objects only.
(read this twice now and call your saltician in the morning.)
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It's a chicken (or more appropriately, sturgeon)-and-egg, back-and-forth sort of thing. If you anthropomorphize a fish on a bicycle (as many of us have), you give it human characteristics. If you personify it, you are shona From Cambridge: personify (of a person) to be a perfect example of (a thing or quality) The new party leader personifies the modern face of socialism. These louts personify all that is worst in our society today. personification In the film, she played a character who was the personification of evil. During the 1920s, Al Capone was the personification of organized crime in America. In other words, Al Capone did not go around attributing human characteristics to organized crime. The characteristics of crime were attibuted to him. Is this clear? I've had a long day and if it's not, someone let me know I'll come back to it tomorrow when I can think better [grimace]
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you've latched on to just one sense of personification; there are two:
1a - Attribution of personal form, nature, or characteristics; the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person: esp. as a rhetorical figure or species of metaphor. b - An imaginary or ideal person conceived as representing a thing or abstraction.
2. The embodiment of a quality, idea, or other abstraction, in a real person (or, by extension, in a concrete thing); usually applied to the actual person (or thing) as embodying the quality, etc., or exemplifying it in a striking manner or degree; an impersonation, ‘incarnation’ (of something). [from OED]
anthropomorphism fits 1a.
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#8118
10/18/2000 12:08 PM
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call your saltician in the morningHope he doesn't recommend vinegar and brown paper. Next thing I know the chips will be down. 
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#8119
10/18/2000 12:33 PM
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Thanks for that, folks. The mists have parted somewhat!
Does the double meaning make 'personify' enantiodromic or a contranym, then?
cf "Words that are their own antonym" anyone interested
I suppose the meanings are only contrary in that they make the verb transitive or intransitive. (terminology? - it's been a while!)
Just to stir up the water again, 'personalize' can mean exactly the same as 'personify'.
I considered this word a little way back in the discussion, thinking it may have had the meaning of "assign a personality to". Which, as it turns out, it does and doesn't...
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>Does the double meaning make 'personify' enantiodromic or a contranym, then?
my thought exactly!
if you look at some of the lists of contranyms (it's one of those things that seems to proliferate on the 'net) you will see how loosely the words "opposite" and "antonym" are treated. one example that we've had here is a 'stranger' popping in with the question "what is the opposite of the word misogynist, or a woman hater"; to which the required response should be "well, do you mean a 'woman lover' or a 'man hater'?" [I've seen the question several times, in several places, and the latter is invariably what's wanted... :-?]
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Pooh-Bah
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Just to stir up the water again, 'personalize' can mean exactly the same as 'personify'.
Would an example be helpful here? how about: "Marriage is Love parsonified."
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This has evolved in a very interesting way, and I've learned something. But I believe I for one, on the rare occasions I have to write either word, will continue to stick with the difference, in an attempt to circumvent contranymic confusion. For me: "Einstein personifies genius," means he is the human embodiment of that quality, and is not an intro to his quote: "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."
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For me: "Einstein personifies genius," means he is the human embodiment of that quality, and is not an intro to his quote: "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."
Thank you, Anna. I love the way I am always learning here. I had alays thought that quote was attributed to Edison. Cheers,
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>attributed to Edison
me too.
more fun with percents:
95% of this game is half mental.
-- Yogi Berra
98% of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest
Americans. It's the other lousy 2% that get all the publicity. But then,
we elected them.
-- Lily Tomlin
and of course, the progenitor of Sturgeon's Law, paraphrased from Sturgeon's Revelation:
90% of science fiction is crud, but then 90% of everything is crud.
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Whoops. Believe it was Edison.  Well, y'all get my meaning. Loved the quotes, tsuwm, even the YARTed one  .
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how loosely the words "opposite" and "antonym" are treatedYes, I'm certainly seeing plenty of examples of that. But that reflects life, does it not? And I'm probably just as guilty of misinterpretation of opposition (what a mouthful  ) as the next fish, I suppose.. Is the "opposite of misogynist" thread around somewhere?
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to circumvent contranymic confusion
Fair enough, Auntie. I think I may have a go at using "personalize" in place of "anthropomorphize" myself, and see how it works. Can't hack the multi-syllable scientific stuff applied to fairly everyday occurrences.
Did I tell you I have a friend who personalizes his cat?
He makes it wear a collar and has tattooed his name and address on its back, underneath the fur.
Ah.
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90% of science fiction is crud, but then 90% of everything is crud.
Sturgeon was a great fish indeed. Excellent.
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>Is the "opposite of misogynist" thread around somewhere?
ah! an excellent opportunity to learn the use of the "search" function - it's the button under AWADtalk, not the other. at the menu, select "all forums" and "all posts" for the search string "misogynist".
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#8130
10/20/2000 10:26 PM
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stranger
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In poetry--how about "the wakeful bed, the aching mirror?" A little dash of personification. Then, of course, there's the "persona" poem--but that's another story!
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