Saying 'obtuse' when you mean 'abstruse'

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It's getting very common isn't it? You do it - I do it - even the NME does it. Has the meaning of the word now changed?

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Monday, 15 November 2004 02:00 (nineteen years ago) link

The amount of purposeful obtuseness here is sickening!

― Leon the Fratboy (Ex Leon), Monday, 15 November 2004 02:04 (nineteen years ago) link

abstruse

Definition:
difficult

Synonyms:
abstract, complex, complicated, deep, enigmatic, esoteric, heavy, hidden, incomprehensible, intricate, involved, obscure, perplexing, profound, puzzling, recondite, subtle, unfathomable, vague

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obtuse

Definition:
stupid

Synonyms:
birdbrained, dense, dopey, drippy, dull, dumb, flat tire, imperceptive, insensitive, lamebrained, opaque, retarded, slow, stolid, thick, uncomprehending, unintelligent

― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 15 November 2004 02:07 (nineteen years ago) link

that's weird I always thought they were synonyms and I was an english major. Thank god I'm not an English teacher now.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 15 November 2004 02:09 (nineteen years ago) link

The potential for secretly insulting someone is immense.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Monday, 15 November 2004 02:10 (nineteen years ago) link

if i ever get confused, i just remember the phrase "deliberately obtuse". i sometimes mix it up with oblique, which is more a synonym for abtuse, in that they share a meaning in 'obscure'. phew.

― m. (mitchlnw), Monday, 15 November 2004 02:59 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't think I've ever actually made this mistake "out loud", but I definitely had it wrong in my head until I read this thread. Thanks.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Who the hell does that? And in a published magazine? Are you sure? They should be shot in the head. (sorry, I'm not forgiving about semantic errors)

― mouse (mouse), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:04 (nineteen years ago) link

i've never heard anyone use "obtuse" to mean anything other than "the opposite of acute" and i think you're all imagining things

― John (jdahlem), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:05 (nineteen years ago) link

when i said 'abtuse', i mean abstruse.

― m. (mitchlnw), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:26 (nineteen years ago) link

I blame the Shawshank Redemption.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:31 (nineteen years ago) link

Who's being obtuse and who's being abstruse here? Form orderly lines.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:46 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't even know.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:48 (nineteen years ago) link

ts "you're just being obtuse" vs. "you're just being abstruse"

― amateur!!st, Monday, 15 November 2004 03:51 (nineteen years ago) link

I do this all the time. I only realized my mistake a couple of months ago when someone called me out on it.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:57 (nineteen years ago) link

finally, the grammatical mistake everyone can feel good about making

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:59 (nineteen years ago) link

maybe that should be "about which making everyone can feel good"

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 15 November 2004 03:59 (nineteen years ago) link

i do know the difference between obtuse and abstruse, but today i forgot what 'etymology' and 'entomology' meant

― amateur!!st, Monday, 15 November 2004 04:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I have a friend who used "abstruse" correctly, but it was like her only big word and she used it *way* too much. Sort of like how many stoners seem to overuse "copacetic." She will kill me if she ever reads this (if you're reading this, I think you're brilliant, but "abstruse" all the time? Come on!).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 15 November 2004 04:02 (nineteen years ago) link

i always get those confused. one is bugs, one is words. ento- is bugs?

xpost

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Monday, 15 November 2004 04:02 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah i'm really self-conscious about using certain words too often

― amateur!!st, Monday, 15 November 2004 04:04 (nineteen years ago) link

i remember those by thinking etymology is about word history, and history has a 'y' in it

― gem (trisk), Monday, 15 November 2004 04:04 (nineteen years ago) link

Also, "obtuse" can also mean 'not acute' and a secondary definition (from Merriam Webster) is "difficult to comprehend : not clear or precise in thought or expression". So they are in fact synonyms.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 15 November 2004 04:05 (nineteen years ago) link

This thread has officially made me feel like a dumbass :(

(confession time: while I did only use "obtuse" to mean obscured, I had no idea it really meant stupid, and I have never heard the word abstruse before. I am going to go lie down and quietly smash myself in the head with the Oxford now).

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 15 November 2004 04:05 (nineteen years ago) link

if i were to say "you are being deliberately obtuse" to an opponent in an argument, i think i could interchange 'stupid' with 'obscure' or 'difficult' most times anyways

― gem (trisk), Monday, 15 November 2004 04:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Good point (that is the only sense in which I use obtuse in any case).

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 15 November 2004 04:13 (nineteen years ago) link

'You are being deliberately stupid' - hahaha I love it!

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Monday, 15 November 2004 04:52 (nineteen years ago) link

wait now spencer has confused me by confirming what I thought all along. so I was right and so is everyone else. "abstruse" is a word for the pretentious. "obtuse" is for the masses.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 15 November 2004 08:04 (nineteen years ago) link

That's both abstruse and obtuse.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Monday, 15 November 2004 09:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Peon, paeon and paean confuse people lots too, especially me.

― beanz (beanz), Monday, 15 November 2004 09:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Not to mention peom.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Monday, 15 November 2004 10:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I think paeon and paean are alternative spellings.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Monday, 15 November 2004 10:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I thought they had the same root maybe but my dad insists a paean is a song of praise and a paeon is a measure of poetic metre. Who can say?

― beanz (beanz), Monday, 15 November 2004 10:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, quite possibly - I thought I'd seen both used in poetry, but that could be the case regardless.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Monday, 15 November 2004 10:13 (nineteen years ago) link

I always thought that "abstruse" was a word that I made up. I'm very glad to find out that it's not, and that it means exactly what I thought it meant. Phew!

― The Grain of Sand in Lambeth That Satan Cannot Find (kate), Monday, 15 November 2004 10:36 (nineteen years ago) link

the definition of obtuse = stupid scared me, since i thought i had been misuing this word too, but the meaning is broader than that:

OBTUSE:
Lacking quickness of perception or intellect.
Characterized by a lack of intelligence or sensitivity: an obtuse remark.
Not distinctly felt: an obtuse pain.

Not sharp, pointed, or acute in form; blunt.
Having an obtuse angle: an obtuse triangle.
Botany. Having a blunt or rounded tip: an obtuse leaf.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 15 November 2004 12:34 (nineteen years ago) link

I never realised!!

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:19 (nineteen years ago) link

er what?? have any of you guys taken geometry class?? i still don't understand what's so confusing about any of this

― John (jdahlem), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Geometry is abstruse, and we are obtuse.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 01:02 (nineteen years ago) link

This should have been a picture thread

― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 01:32 (nineteen years ago) link

Tombot is right. So - let's make it one.

The Gallery Obtuse:

http://www.well.com/~lucci/GOTH/GOTHGAL/gothgalimg1.html

Obviously they didn't know what the word really meant.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 02:00 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.hickoryfarms.com/hf_assets/images/shop/large/p18l.jpg

― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 02:02 (nineteen years ago) link

i would post an abstruse pic but heaps of the search hits are porn sites and my work pc can't access them

― gem (trisk), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 02:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I never had any geometry classes.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 17:36 (nineteen years ago) link

three years pass...

it's so frustrating to me, abstruse ppl. i mean just say what you mean, instead of trying to sound like some history professor. really.

― Surmounter, Monday, 18 August 2008 00:40 (fifteen years ago) link

i like sounding smart just as much as the next person but when it's like you can't even understand the gist, then you're just not using the right words, no matter how clever they sound.

― Surmounter, Monday, 18 August 2008 00:47 (fifteen years ago) link

Don't be obtuse, Ramz.

― libcrypt, Monday, 18 August 2008 06:14 (fifteen years ago) link

eleven months pass...

look, i know i've gained a little weight, but there's no way i'm obtuse.

― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Friday, 7 August 2009 14:09 (fourteen years ago) link

btw what happened to libby. libby, who are you now?

― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Friday, 7 August 2009 14:09 (fourteen years ago) link

use of "obscure" where "obtuse" should be is the more pressing problem in my experience

― rent, Friday, 7 August 2009 14:33 (fourteen years ago) link

I only learned that these didn't mean the same thing recently. How obtuse of me. Another recent surprise was that 'fortuitous' had nothing to do with good luck.

― Akon/Family (Merdeyeux), Friday, 7 August 2009 16:39 (fourteen years ago) link

abstruse is one of those words that makes you feel like you're zinging someone when you define it. like sesquipedalian.

― the heart is a lonely hamster (schlump), Friday, 7 August 2009 17:01 (fourteen years ago) link

even looking up the meaning of sesquipedalian made me feel like I'd been zinged.

What's the word I'm thinking of that's a fancy way of saying 'everyday'?

― Akon/Family (Merdeyeux), Friday, 7 August 2009 17:10 (fourteen years ago) link

I remembered! Quotidian!

― Akon/Family (Merdeyeux), Friday, 7 August 2009 17:16 (fourteen years ago) link

quotidien

― there is no there there (elmo argonaut), Friday, 7 August 2009 17:17 (fourteen years ago) link

quotidian, sorry

quotidien is the French

― there is no there there (elmo argonaut), Friday, 7 August 2009 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link

In reply to the original question, yes: a co-worker of mine heard Deerhoof for the first time and remarked that it was pretty obtuse music.

I use "obtuse" for people who don't make distinctions, the black-and-white crowd. You know, minds too round and fat for higher-resolution thinking.

― B'wana Beast, Friday, 7 August 2009 18:19 (fourteen years ago) link

ts: abstruse vs. tortuous

― Black bread and Victory gin AGAIN? (kenan), Friday, 7 August 2009 19:43 (fourteen years ago) link

Actually, those aren't exactly the same thing. Torturous implies length whil abstruse implies depth

― Black bread and Victory gin AGAIN? (kenan), Friday, 7 August 2009 19:45 (fourteen years ago) link

TorTUOUS

I was just thinking that it's funny when people mix up tortuous and torturous, and than I typed the wrong word

― Black bread and Victory gin AGAIN? (kenan), Friday, 7 August 2009 19:45 (fourteen years ago) link

OMG! Now I know why I used to misuse obtuse! Thanks ILX. I heart you even more. haha

― Nathalie (stevienixed), Friday, 7 August 2009 21:23 (fourteen years ago) link

Abstruse should mean "has a rock-hard six-pack."

― The Love Song of J Alfred Pluot (Oilyrags), Friday, 7 August 2009 21:27 (fourteen years ago) link

I was just thinking that it's funny when people mix up tortuous and torturous, and than I typed the wrong word

lol!

― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Friday, 7 August 2009 21:31 (fourteen years ago) link

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