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Is there a word for the passive object that is spatially manipulated by the players so as to play the game? That is, an abstract word for specific examples such as ball, puck and shuttlecock?
As a substitute, I'm using the word 'operand', which has a satisfyingly similar meaning in mathematics. Thanks, cheers.
Last edited by Jeremy Murphy; 08/26/08 12:08 PM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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many dictionaries resort to object, in the abstract.
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stranger
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Yeah, I'm hoping to find something more specific than that.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Not for me to be of any help, but I'd like to ask in this context: which word is more abstract, object or thing
object
1. Something perceptible by one or more of the senses, especially by vision or touch; a material thing. 2. A focus of attention, feeling, thought, or action: an object of contempt. 3. The purpose, aim, or goal of a specific action or effort: the object of the game.
thing
1. An entity, an idea, or a quality perceived, known, or thought to have its own existence. 2a. The real or concrete substance of an entity. b. An entity existing in space and time. c. An inanimate object. 3. Something referred to by a word, a symbol, a sign, or an idea; a referent.
(both from American Heritage)
To me the second definition seems to be more focussed on the abstract.
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Pooh-Bah
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Could you use "counter" as one would in board games?
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old hand
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old hand
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Any of these.
Agent, equipment, implement, tool, utensil.
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old hand
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Do you really mean abstract? It seems to me you mean something more like generic. There is nothing 'abstract' about any of these missiles, especially if they hit you at speed. They are all concrete objects.
How about one of these?
missile
projectile
ball (which etymologically refers not to roundness but to being projected through the air) or if you prefer a made up word: ballistile
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stranger
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Do you really mean abstract? It seems to me you mean something more like generic. There is nothing 'abstract' about any of these missiles, especially if they hit you at speed. They are all concrete objects.
How about one of these?
missile
projectile
ball (which etymologically refers not to roundness but to being projected through the air) or if you prefer a made up word: ballistile
Yes, I guess I really meant the class word for such objects. Words like missile and projectile are too broad; manipulandum is better because really, the object does not have to be a projectile, it could be a counter or piece like somebody else suggested. Balls, pucks and shuttlecocks just happen to all be projectiles; my mistake if I stressed that feature. So a word that means, "A manipulandum that is the focus of, or central to, play in a game" is what I'm looking for. Does that make more sense?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Only problem I see with manipulandum is no one would know what you mean. Counter would work for, maybe, something like a backgammon piece or a Monopoly piece, something that marks your progress in a game where you proceed around a game board.
Perhaps you could select from this list of more specific terms that would be in the group you are trying to find a word for:
baseball
basketball
hockey puck
tennis ball
chess piece
poker chip
backgammon piece
mahjongg tile
checker (what do you call these when the game is called draughts?)
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F: "Only problem I see with manipulandum is no one would know what you mean."
I agree with Faldage. The word is too obscure.
JM: 'Words like missile and projectile are too broad'
They're too specific.
JM: 'So a word that means, "A manipulandum that is the focus of, or central to, play in a game"'
Ah ... I misunderstood. I don't think manipulandum is something that is central to the play in a game. It's anything that one manipulates. I'm stumped.
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stranger
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JM: 'Words like missile and projectile are too broad'
They're too specific.
Well, yes, that too, it cuts both ways. JM: 'So a word that means, "A manipulandum that is the focus of, or central to, play in a game"'
Ah ... I misunderstood. I don't think manipulandum is something that is central to the play in a game. It's anything that one manipulates. I'm stumped. Yes, manipulandum is also too broad. I've broached the subject with a number of people to no avail; my suspicion is that there is no such word. I guess I'll be off to commission a new work from my local neologist.
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old hand
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Yes that is much more clear. But it doesn't help. I don't think there is such a word. Not in English at least.
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Pooh-Bah
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I side with thingy, but if that's too broad I propose: ips
(to boldly propose what no one proposed before)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Now I'm not so sure that thingy is too broad, but it certainly misses the target. In American football, the football is not a thingy but the thingy that hangs down off the front of the helmet and holds the mouth guard is.
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old hand
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Okay, I like "thingy", but it always smacks of dangliness to me...
My contribution is "scoring device" or "scoring implement". This can be used for both games and sports. You could specificitize it by making "game scoring device/implement" or "sport scoring device/implement". Then come the acronyms: GSD (GSI) and SSD (SSI). :0)
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Carpal Tunnel
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A pencil is a scoring implement.
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After consulting m-w about 'accoutrement', it seems that word is about ancillary equipment. However, it suggests there might be an appropriate short phrase we might use to describe what you're saying:
Essential equipment or Essential element might be close, but these would connote both, for example, a chess board and the pieces whereas I think you're looking for a phrase that would describe the pieces, but not the board (the soccer ball, but not the field).
Manipulated entity characteristic of the game. (Yuck)
Fundamental item of play.
Heck. I don't know.
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old hand
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Hmm. Maybe you could borrow a term from computer game programming. A group of pixels in a game forming an object that moves is called a sprite (and from memory I think another term is bob).
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