[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 37 KB, 350x300, eraser.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5521450 No.5521450 [Reply] [Original]

Im looking for a word that would describe the property of being non-ironic, non-sarcastic and non-sardonic or just plainly meaning what you say and not something else.
Ive already looked up unironicness, unsarcasticness etc. and have not found them in any reputable dictionary.
The only words that come close are seriousness, earnestness and literality but I don't like their connotations.
Can any one of you offer any help?

>> No.5521455

>>5521450
"Straight-faced"?

>> No.5521459

sincerity?

>> No.5521462

>>5521455
And if you don't like that, refer to this - http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/straight-faced

>> No.5521467

>>5521459

You can be sincerely sarcastic.

>> No.5521483

genuine

>> No.5521495

deadpan earnestness is as close as i can come

>> No.5521502

>>5521467
You can also be unironically ironic. The word you're looking for is sincere.

>> No.5521512

frank idiots

>> No.5521515

Clinical isn't a bad choice...

Um, sincere IS what jumped out at me first, but I'll attempt to please our creative instincts...

Um...truthful?

>> No.5521524

>>5521512
But...that's wrong. Frank might as well be blunt or concise, not "without tone or word choice that is deceptive of what could be inferred."

>> No.5521573

>>5521512
who is frank

>> No.5521879

>>5521573
Anne?

>> No.5521883

>>5521483
/thread

>> No.5522907

>>5521450
Unequivocal.

>> No.5523047

Authentic

>> No.5523100

being earnest, dumbass.

>> No.5523236

>>5521450

Sincerity and authenticity are the two that occurred to me before reading the thread, perhaps with a preference for the first. Genuineness as suggested by >>5521483 is not bad, but "unequivocal" (>>5522907) in modern English tends to mean "unambiguous", which isn't quite the same thing - one can be quite clear without being honest, or avoiding irony, sarcasm, etc. Contrary to >>5521524 "frank[ness]" could work too, at least by some definitions (see, for instance, "Open, honest, and direct in speech or writing, especially when dealing with unpalatable matters" at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/frank)) - it's not a synonym for blunt or laconic.

>> No.5523248

Sober.

>> No.5524918

prosaic.
I win.

>> No.5525023

Make up your own word like David Foster Wallace

>> No.5525030

"saronicless"

>> No.5525052

>>5523236
Equivocation is concealment of the point, though it is known to the speaker. Ambiguity is closer to irony as it implies a dual audience, and, to sarcasm as it implies a counterintuitive meaning. Forthright might work as well as frank, authentic etc, but unequivocal or unambiguous are closer to what you describe in avoiding irony and circumspect speech.

>> No.5527412

>>5525052

The definition of "unequivocal" as "unambiguous" is not mine. It's that of the lexicographers at several standard dictionaries, like Oxford (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/unequivocal)), Chambers ("unequivocal adj clearly stated or expressed; unambiguous. unequivocally adverb.
ETYMOLOGY: 18c." - see at http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/)), Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unequivocal)), and Collins (http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/unequivocal).).

You're absolutely right about the meaning of "equivocation" (use of ambiguity or obscurity to conceal), but "unequivocal" has taken a slightly different course from the common etymological root of the two words.