From the Word Fugitives archive...

Good-sized

Please note: This page is a read-only archive of messages posted in the Word Fugitives conference of Post & Riposte.

Topic:	3) Good-sized (1 of 9), Read 107 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Barbara Wallraff ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, October 07, 1999 11:51 AM

Terry Elliott, of Apple Valley, Minn., writes: "Many of us are not thin. Why not a word that describes one's figure as being 'not thin maybe slightly more than the average weight tables, but certainly not fat?' In other words, not a disparaging word and not limited to one gender or the other. (Hence omit 'Rubenesque,' which is highly subjective and very much referring to females.)"

Topic:	3) Good-sized (2 of 9), Read 92 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Jeff Sahol ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, October 07, 1999 08:09 PM

hmmmm...would that be a synonym for "sensitive about one's weight"?

Topic:	3) Good-sized (3 of 9), Read 88 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Martin Melhus ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, October 08, 1999 01:31 AM

While portly is a fair synonym for fat, chubby seems to me to imply that one is less overweight. But perhaps the best way to alleviate this problem is with mild sarcasm, as in "he's not as gaunt as he used to be." Perhaps ungaunt is the word we want here. Healthy, in the right context, could also suffice (but usage may be somewhat strained.)

Regards,
Martin

Topic:	3) Good-sized (4 of 9), Read 87 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Dorothy Glantz ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, October 08, 1999 03:53 PM

Even though we're supposed to be chasing words here, I think this word has already been caught: good-sized. And I know that I have used this word ... the opportunity always seems to crop up when looking through the family photo album. Having looked recently, Dorothy

Topic:	3) Good-sized (5 of 9), Read 89 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Jewel Forga ([email protected])
Date:	Sunday, October 10, 1999 04:09 AM

"WEIGHT IS RELEVANT".
NO FURTHER DISCUSSION NEED APPLY UNLESS: YOU ARE OF NON-RELEVANT WEIGHT, SIZE, HEIGHT, ETC. AND IF USAGE OF THAT TERM IS TAKEN LITERALLY, IT IS NOT-RELEVANT TO ANYONE.
JEWEL E. FORGA

Topic:	3) Good-sized (6 of 9), Read 22 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Michael Fischer ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, October 22, 1999 02:08 PM

On 10/10/99 4:09:10 AM, Jewel Forga wrote:
>"WEIGHT IS RELEVANT".

[not?!]

are you... a fustilugs?
...adipose?
...gorbellied?
...steatopygic??

Topic:	3) Good-sized (7 of 9), Read 72 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Charles Elster ([email protected])
Date:	Wednesday, October 13, 1999 02:49 PM

The language has several words for heavier than average but not fat. "Endomorphic" means short, broad, and powerful. "Mesomorphic" means big-boned and muscular. "Pyknic," which may be your best bet here, means stocky and round. Or you can try "pyriform," shaped like a pear, or "cucurbitaceous," resembling a cucumber or squash. (See pp. 35-40 of my book "There's a Word for It!") Also, it occurs to me that the noun "remplissage," which means literary or musical padding, might work nicely as an adjective for this sense: "In the years since college, Joe's body had softened and become remplissage, slightly padded but not fat."

Topic:	3) Good-sized (8 of 9), Read 25 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	God God ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, October 22, 1999 01:13 PM

On 10/7/99 11:51:55 AM, Barbara Wallraff wrote:
>Terry Elliott, of Apple
>Valley, Minn., writes: "Many
>of us are not thin. Why not a
>word that describes one's
>figure as being 'not thin
>maybe slightly more than the
>average weight tables, but
>certainly not fat?' In other
>words, not a disparaging word
>and not limited to one gender
>or the other. (Hence omit
>'Rubenesque,' which is highly
>subjective and very much
>referring to females.)"
>

Topic:	3) Good-sized (9 of 9), Read 16 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Pete Horne ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, October 22, 1999 08:17 PM

Most of the word fugitives are for words describing EXACTLY what we want to say and mean. In this case, we have a subject which is normally "talked around"; by common usage we intentionally don't say what we mean. Perhaps we are trying not to offend, but the person being described invariably infers exactly what we are thinking anyway.

Characters still need to be described. "Healthy", "Well-fed", "Stocky", all seem to describe the heavier side of average while "Slim", "Trim", "In shape" reflect the lighter side.

Here's a few I've seen and used myself: overweight, chubby, plump (a rather cute one, here), rounded, substantial, imposing and plain old "big". I reserve obese and morbidly obese for those who have achieved that state, and only use fat to describe myself because I don't want to offend anyone else.

Let's face it, we're a "big" society. We've got to have more than a few words to descibe the phenomenon.

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Topic:	Good-sized (1 of 1), Read 11 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Birgit Houston ([email protected])
Date:	Saturday, October 23, 1999 02:11 PM