Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2012 February 3
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February 3
[edit]closer to greedy
[edit]Do we have a specific English word that describes a person who fools someone to get the biggest share in something. e.g money, food etc. greedy is close but is there a word closer to that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.201.250.56 (talk) 04:15, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Conman, hustler, fraudster... --TammyMoet (talk) 10:38, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Swindler? rʨanaɢ (talk) 12:21, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Why would someone fool someone else to get the biggest share of something? Wouldn't that just be 'advice'? KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 12:35, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Do you mean "avarice"? Bus stop (talk) 14:09, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Manipulative? --Tagishsimon (talk) 13:03, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Deceitful? Deceptive? Underhanded? Slimy? Cheating? Here's a bunch more. How about mendacious? Bus stop (talk) 14:11, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- In American English, the term Republican comes close to your meaning. ;-) Marco polo (talk) 14:21, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Or just government in general for the last 30 years in the UK. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 14:31, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- In American English, the term Republican comes close to your meaning. ;-) Marco polo (talk) 14:21, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Deceitful? Deceptive? Underhanded? Slimy? Cheating? Here's a bunch more. How about mendacious? Bus stop (talk) 14:11, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- If you're looking for a noun, I think we should add "charlatan" as the best match, though "confidence man" would be close also, or "mountebank". How to turn these into adjectives (charlatanish? mountebanklike?) is beyond me. And I'll admit, they're not an ideal fit for the concept you're describing, though I think they're awfully close. Jwrosenzweig (talk) 06:27, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
- They are close to the word I'm describing but not exactly the right one. Guess there's not really an English translation for this word. Thanks everyone. I learned new words though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.201.250.56 (talk) 07:47, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
- I think duplicitous is fairly close in meaning to what we are aiming for. Bus stop (talk) 23:30, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
- They are close to the word I'm describing but not exactly the right one. Guess there's not really an English translation for this word. Thanks everyone. I learned new words though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.201.250.56 (talk) 07:47, 4 February 2012 (UTC)