quest

en-verb

quest (third-person singular simple present quests, present participle questing, simple past and past participle quested)

quests (present singular third-person)
questing (participle present)
quested (participle past)
quested (past)

From Middle English quest, queste; partly from Anglo-Norman queste, Old French queste (“acquisition, search, hunt”), and partly from their source, Latin quaesta (“tribute, tax, inquiry, search”), noun use of quaesita, the feminine past participle of quaerere (“to ask, seek”).

der

Next day we quested in search of our caravan, and after some pains recovered it.

1634, Thomas Herbert, Description of the Persian Monarchy now beinge the Orientall Indyes, Iles and other ports of the Greater Asia and Africk:

(transitive) To search for something; to seek.


once upon a time

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-once upon a time.wav

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a beautiful princess.

There was once upon a time a charcoal-burner who had a son, and he was also a charcoal-burner.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 308:

Once upon a time, there was a Goblin Queen
And she lived in a grand palace...

2023, A. C. MacDonald, Twistwood Tales (comic), Andrews McMeel, →ISBN, page 138:

A long time ago; at some time in the past (a traditional beginning of children's stories, especially fairy tales).

agwa

traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales

iq̇o da ara iq̇o ra, ɣvtis uḳetesi ra ikneboda

იყო და არა იყო რა, ღვთის უკეთესი რა იქნებოდა


er was eens

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) once upon a time there was


red herring

en-noun

red herring (plural red herrings or red herring)

red herrings (plural)
red herring (plural)

(figurative): One possible origin of the idiom was that red herring were used to train dogs to track scents. This was true, but the modern meaning of a false trail may have been popularized in a news story by English journalist William Cobbett, c. 1805, in which he claimed that as a boy he used a red herring (a cured and salted herring) to mislead hounds following a trail; the story served as an extended metaphor for the London press, which had earned Cobbett's ire by publishing false news accounts regarding Napoleon. The OED has another possible earlier origin in the legacy of clergyman Jasper Mayne in 1672 when he misled a servant by leaving him "Somewhat that would make him Drink after his Death" in a large trunk. When the trunk was opened, the contents were found to be red herring.
(soldier): An allusion to soldiers' red uniforms; soldier is, reciprocally, a slang term for the fish.

neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring

red herring prospectus
red herring prospectus


deus ex machina

deus ex machina (plural dei ex machina or dei ex machinis or deus ex machinas)

dei ex machina (plural)
dei ex machinis (plural)
deus ex machinas (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-deus ex machina.wav

Unadapted borrowing from Latin deus ex māchinā (literally “god from a machine [i.e., a device, scaffolding, contrivance]”), a calque of Ancient Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanês theós).

ubor

god from a machine 􂀿i.e., a device, scaffolding, contrivance􂁀

calque

ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός

I was going to wait for Monsieur Hyppolyte and, like a craven, hand the whole thing over to him. Let the deus ex machina fly in out of the clouds...

1959, Mary Stewart, chapter XVII, in Nine Coaches Waiting, M. S. Mill Company, page 268:

(historical, literary) A deity in Greek and Roman drama who was brought in by stage machinery to intervene in a difficult situation (i.e., to resolve a crisis, or untangle issues surrounding it, a character logically expected to do so).


olim

ōlim (canonical)
ōli (alternative Late-Latin proscribed)

For ōle, olle, ōlus, ollus, archaic forms of ille, with locative ending -im, = illō tempore.

† Turned conjunction with original meaning somewhat dissimilated° Rare‡only used as a conjunction


magic wand

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-magic wand.wav

A wand, usually made of wood, that is used to perform magic.


había una vez

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) once upon a time


love triangle

/ˈlʌv ˌtɹaɪ.æŋɡəl/

La Battaglia di Legnano is a patriotic melodrama with a love triangle theme included.

1961 December 12, The Times, p.5 col. F:

By placing Max and Onno in a love triangle with Ada, Mr. Mulisch achieves an emotional depth that recalls Francois Truffaut's classic film “Jules and Jim.”

1997 January 5, Jack Miles, “On a Mission From God”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A situation in which two suitors vie or compete for the love of the same person.

liefdesdriehoek

situation in which two people vie for the love of a third


hamartia

en-noun

hamartia (usually uncountable, plural hamartias)

/ˌhæˌmɑɹˈtiː.ə/

/ˌhɑːˌmɑɹˈtiː.ə/

From Ancient Greek ἁμαρτία (hamartía, “tragic failure, sinful nature”), from the verb ἁμαρτάνω (hamartánō, “to miss the mark”).

der

As a consequence of the primeval peripety, the Adamic fall narrated in Genesis 3, they have all inherited the catastrophic and tragic hamartia, as it were, of original sin, the engrained powerlessness of the soul to will the good, much less to do it, along with the deep disorientation of the soul's root desire.

2020, Paul M. Blowers, Visions and Faces of the Tragic […] , Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 127:


cliffhanger

cliffhangers (plural)
cliff hanger (alternative)
cliff-hanger (alternative)

From cliff + hanger, evoking the image of someone left hanging from a cliff, thereby having an uncertain fate.
The term "cliffhanger" is considered to have originated with the serialised version of Thomas Hardy's "A Pair of Blue Eyes", published in Tinsley's Magazine in the 1870s, in which the character Henry Knight is left hanging off of a cliff. It was inspired by a real life story from his wife Emma's childhood, when she had to rescue one of her school friends from a similar position.

This presidential election is such a cliffhanger. Will it be the rising star Dmitry "Obamovich" Medvedev? Or the veteran Gennady "McCainovich" Zyuganov?

February 28 2008, Timothy Garton Ash, “Russia has run rings round the west”, in Guardian, retrieved 2009-02-02:

(by extension) An outcome which is awaited with keen anticipation, especially one which is delayed for a period of time or which is not known until the last minute.


deathtrap

deathtraps (plural)
death trap (alternative)
death-trap (alternative)

(literature) A plot device where a villain in a story puts a hero in an elaborate dangerous situation for the purposes of attempting a sadistic murder.


unobtainium

en-noun

unobtainium (countable and uncountable, plural unobtainiums)

unobtainiums (plural)
unobtanium (alternative)
unobtanium (alternative)

From unobtain(able) + -ium (suffix typical of names of atomic elements), modelled after uranium and titanium. Compare also the origin of dysprosium.

suffix

Thus the invention of high temperature fuels will enable us to consider cores which are radiation cooled; such cores would be surrounded by large tanks (cooled by water) which in turn would be penetrated by beam holes. The beam holes themselves would probably have to be made of "unobtanium". (This "unobtanium" is a word coined at Atomics International to describe the material needed to make reactor projects feasible.) In between the radiation cooled reactors and the water cooled reactors is a regime suitable for liquid metal (including boiling liquid) cooled reactors. Once again "unobtanium" is needed.

1962, Charles N. Kelber, “Research Reactors”, in Earl W. Phelan, editor, Current Trends in Nuclear Power: A Symposium Sponsored by the University of Arizona in Cooperation with Argonne National Laboratory: Tucson, Arizona, February 26 – March 12, 1962, Argonne, Ill.: Argonne National Laboratory, →OCLC, page 17, column 2:

In order to illustrate some of the features of data processing under ideal conditions, a set of simulated data was generated and is presented in the last four columns of Table II. The hypothetical material is called Unobtainium.

[1978 September, Lynn C. Rogers, Ahid D. Nashif, “Computerized Processing and Empirical Processing of Viscoelastic Material Property Data and Preliminary Constrained Layer Damping Treatment Design”, in The Shock and Vibration Bulletin (Bulletin; 48, part 2 (Isolation and Damping, Impact, Blast)), Washington, D.C.: The Shock and Vibration Information Center, Naval Research Laboratory, →OCLC, page 26, column 2:

The names of materials presently used in aerospace applications are familiar: magnesium, aluminum, titanium, and so on. Propulsion scientists call the ideal material for turbine engines "Unobtainium," because it does not exist.

As early as 1969, during the initial Phase A studies, Lockheed had taken the initiative in proposing a two-stage fully-reusable design with both stages built of aluminum and using silica tiles for thermal protection. [...] Though that company indeed was in the forefront in developing such tiles, they were items for laboratory research. A design that specified their use had no more intrinsic credibility than one that proposed to use the miracle metals Unobtanium and Wishalloy.

1999, T[homas] A. Heppenheimer, “A Shuttle to Fit the Budget”, in The Space Shuttle Decision: NASA’s Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle (The NASA History Series; NASA SP-4221), Washington, D.C.: Office of Policy and Plans, NASA History Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, →OCLC, page 331:

This is not a Tom Tomorrow Bike, made of NASA unobtainiums and employing warp drives that have yet to be invented. It could be built as soon as the production technology is put on the line and powered-up, because all the vehicle technology is proven, off-the-shelf stuff.

2002 February, Kevin Cameron, “Supercharged: It’s Good to B-King”, in Cycle World, volume 41, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 38, column 2:

A fictional material or component which, if it existed, would enable one to easily solve a hard problem.

難得素 /难得素

fictional component or material which would enable one to easily solve a hard problem


time bomb

time bombs (plural)
timebomb (alternative)
time-bomb (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-time bomb.wav

Even so, they managed to morph the recent European parliamentary elections into a time bomb and plant it under their country’s own future.

2014 June 6, Françoise Fressoz, “France’s Ticking Time Bomb”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Someone must explain to Sunak about the time bomb ticking beneath his £1,000 loafers.

2023 May 31, Nigel Harris, “Comment: GBR now! We have no Plan B”, in RAIL, number 984, page 3:

The pandemic preparation timebomb detonated to devastating effect; a number of other timebombs are on the shortest of fuses. The government has now reached a state of perfect vicious cycle, when the only thing worse than the things it does are all the things it didn’t get round to doing.

2023 June 30, Marina Hyde, “The tide is coming in fast on Rishi Sunak – and it’s full of sewage”, in The Guardian:

(figuratively) A situation that threatens to have disastrous consequences at some future time.


flashback

→ German: Flashback

→ Spanish: flashback

→ Norwegian: flashback

→ Portuguese: flashback

(psychology) A vivid mental image of a past trauma or other sensation that the trauma is happening in the present, especially one that recurs.

flaixbac

a vivid mental image of a past trauma, especially one that recurs

The condition of the flame propagating down the hose of an oxy-fuel welding system.

As noted, that method provides limited support for multi-table flashbacks.

2004, Kevin Loney, Oracle Database 10g The Complete Reference, page 497:

[…] less used and specialized types of queries, including composite queries, hierarchical queries, version flashbacks, and parallel queries.

2004, Gavin J. T. Powell, Carol McCullough-Dieter, Oracle SQL: Jumpstart with Examples, page xxv:

(databases) A query that operates against data from an earlier time, before it was changed.


flashback

en-verb

flashback (third-person singular simple present flashbacks, present participle flashbacking, simple past and past participle flashbacked)

flashbacks (present singular third-person)
flashbacking (participle present)
flashbacked (participle past)
flashbacked (past)

(intransitive) To undergo a flashback; to experience a vivid mental image from the past.


alter ego

/ˈɔːl.təɹ iːɡəʊ/

From Latin alter ego (literally “other me”).

Captain Underpants
Emma Watson
Hermione Granger
Lois Lane
Miley Stewart
Superwoman
alter ego

(law) A corporation used by a person to conduct personal business in an attempt to shield himself or herself from personal liability, and which a court may penetrate by "piercing the corporate veil" to impose liability on the person when they commit fraud or injustice.


pay-off

At the current monthly payment level, it'll take 32 more months to reach pay-off.

A payment in full; the state of having been paid in full.


retcon

A blend of retroactive + continuity. The term retroactive continuity was popularized by comics writer Roy Thomas, who was known for writing superhero comic books set decades in the past such as All-Star Squadron, and attributes it to an anonymous source.

TLC: What do you say to the Legion fans who have become disenfranchised with the series due to its various retcons and reboots?

2003, Glen Cadigan, The Legion Companion, page 152:

Fans talk of retcon—retroactive continuity—giving information that explains an earlier event, especially seeming plot contradictions or lacunae.

2005, Rhonda Wilcox, Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, page 9:

It's a little trick called retcon, short for "retroactive continuity," […]
Yet I'm unsure even Millar is fully aware of the power given him by the retcon.

2006, Glenn Yeffeth, editor, The Man from Krypton: A Closer Look at Superman, page 155:

A fictional setting in which a new storyline explains or changes a previous event or attaches a new significance to it.


dreamworld

dreamworlds (plural)
dream-world (alternative)
dream world (alternative)

From dream + world. Compare West Frisian dreamwrâld (“dreamworld”), Dutch droomwereld, dromenwereld (“dreamworld”), German Traumwelt (“dreamworld”), Danish drømmeverden (“dreamworld”), Swedish drömvärld (“dreamworld”).

At midnight they left the air-conditioned dream-world and entered the oven of the street.

1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 358:

An imaginary world, such as experienced while dreaming.


dangler

/ˈdæŋɡlə(ɹ)/

Similarly, participles ending in “ing” often cause danglers in scientific writing: […]

2014, Silvia M. Rogers, Mastering Scientific and Medical Writing: A Self-help Guide, page 43:

(grammar, informal) A dangling modifier, especially a dangling participle.


era uma vez

[ˈɛ.ɾɐ ˈũ.mɐ ˈve(ɪ̯)s]

[ˈɛ.ɾɐ ˈũ.mɐ ˈve(ɪ̯)s]

[ˈɛ.ɾɐ ˈũ.mɐ ˈve(ɪ̯)ʃ]

/ˈɛ.ɾɐ ˈu.mɐ ˈveʃ/

/ˈɛ.ɾɐ ˈu.mɐ ˈveʃ/

/ˈɛ.ɾɐ ˈu.mɐ ˈbeʃ/

[ˈɛ.ɾɐ ˈu.mɐ ˈβeʃ]


happy ending

And how was this happy ending to be brought about? Why, by this very eaſy and trite expedient; to wit, by reforming Lovelace, and marrying him to Clariſſa.

1784, The Novelist's Magazine, volume XV, London: Harrison and Co., page 1263, column 1:

The heroine was killed, and since then the happy ending has only been preserved in an appendix in the play.

1827 June 8, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, page 4, column 3:

Life is not to be conceived on the analogy of a melodrama in which the hero and heroine go through incredible misfortunes for which they are compensated by a happy ending.

1930, Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness:

Death ends all things and so is the comprehensive conclusion of a story, but marriage finishes it very properly too and the sophisticated are ill-advised to sneer at what is by convention termed a happy ending.

1944, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 1, in The Razor’s Edge […], 1st American edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Co., →OCLC, section i, page 1:

Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?

1957 July 6, What’s Opera, Doc?, spoken by Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc):

Modern romance, like Greek tragedy, celebrates the mystery of dismemberment, which is life in time. The happy ending is justly scorned as a misrepresentation; for the world, as we know it, as we have seen it, yields but one ending: death, disintegration, dismemberment, and the crucifixion of our heart with the passing of the forms that we have loved.

1968, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd edition, London: Fontana Press, published 1993, page 25:

And she said: / "Don't you know that storybook loves, / Always have a happy ending."

1987, “Storybook Love”, Willy DeVille (music):

(narratology) A conclusion to a story in which all the loose ends of the plot are tied up, and all the main characters are left in a state of contentment or happiness.


happily ever after

en-noun

happily ever after (plural happily ever afters)

happily ever afters (plural)
happily-ever-after (alternative)

/ˈhæpɪli ˌɛvəɹ‿ˈɑːftə/

/ˈhæpəli ˌɛvəɹ‿ˈæftəɹ/

The adverb is derived from happily (adverb) + ever after (adverb), used as a formulaic ending in works for children especially since the 19th century. The noun is derived from the adverb.

In the real world, there are no happily ever afters, no storybook endings. We must always fight intolerance and fanaticism.

1994 May 25, [Karen] Shepherd, “Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1995”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 103d Congress, Second Session (United States House of Representatives), volume 140, part 7, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11905, column 1:

Disney CEO Robert Iger believes in happily-ever-afters. For two years, Disney's relationship with Pixar Animation Studios—creator of such blockbusters as "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story"—was on the rocks, soured by an epic battle of wills between former Disney chief Michael Eisner and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs. But when Iger took over last year, he was determined to kiss and make up.

2006 January 9, David J. Jefferson, “An Incredible Marriage? Disney and Pixar’s CEO Steve Jobs Talk of Joining Forces”, in Newsweek, volume CXVII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 42:

The couple’s romance, captured with intimate closeups and accompanied by a jaunty Europop soundtrack, is rapturous. But Martin’s increasingly provocative ideas throw a wrench in Elena’s dreams of a happily-ever-after.

2020 October 13, Beatrice Loayza, “Jack London gets an Italian makeover in the tragic and romantic Martin Eden”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2022-07-05:

As a water sign, Cancers are deeply sensitive. They long to give and receive love, and they frequently find themselves always fantasizing about their "happily-ever-after."

2020 November 6, Kyle Thomas, “Your Cosmic Love Triangle, by Zodiac Sign”, in Cosmopolitan, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-07-15:

(by extension) A happy period of time which is imagined never to end; specifically, the state of happiness in which one or more people (typically a loving couple) dwell for the rest of his, her, their, etc., lives.

onnellinen loppu

happy period of time which is imagined never to end; state of happiness in which one or more people dwell for the rest of their lives


MacGuffin

MacGuffins (plural)
McGuffin (alternative)

Alfred Hitchcock
MacGuffin#History_and_use
Ulster

Used by Alfred Hitchcock, as an arbitrary Scottish surname. The actual name comes from Ulster: Mc- (“son of”) + Irish dubh (“black”) + Irish Fionn (literally “fairheaded”).
See also Wikipedia's MacGuffin § History and use.

af

" […] But we wound up realizing you really can't top yourself. You just tell a different story and hope the new MacGuffin is as compelling as the last MacGuffin."

2000, Steven Spielberg, Lester D. Friedman, Brent Notbohm, Steven Spielberg: Interviews:

A paleontologist lately returned from an expedition to Wyoming, where he unearthed the bones of the first brontosaurus (and supplied guns to the Indians on behalf of the Foreign Office, which had succeeded in its policy of balkanizing the North American continent) Mallory comes into possession of the MacGuffin during a Derby Day encounter with Byron's daughter (and Babbage's protégée) Ada. Thereafter he is hounded by a whole rogue's gallery of villains bent on reclaiming the MacGuffin.

(narratology) A plot element or other device used to catch the audience's attention and maintain suspense, but whose exact nature has fairly little influence over the storyline.


یکی بود یکی نبود

head

یکی بود یکی نبود

یکی بود یکی نبود • (yeki bud yeki nabud)

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) once upon a time (literally One was, one wasn't.)


kouzelný proutek

kouzelný proutek (nominative singular)
kouzelné proutky (nominative plural)
kouzelného proutku (genitive singular)
kouzelných proutků (genitive plural)
kouzelnému proutku (dative singular)
kouzelným proutkům (dative plural)
kouzelný proutek (accusative singular)
kouzelné proutky (accusative plural)
kouzelný proutku (singular vocative)
kouzelné proutky (plural vocative)
kouzelném proutku (locative singular)
kouzelných proutcích (locative plural)
kouzelných proutkách (locative plural)
kouzelným proutkem (instrumental singular)
kouzelnými proutky (instrumental plural)


magic carpet

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-magic carpet.wav

Have you ever been, have you ever been, to Electric Ladyland? / The magic carpet waits for you, so don't you be late

1968, Jimi Hendrix, “Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)”, in Electric Ladyland, performed by The Jimi Hendrix Experience:

(fiction) A carpet capable either of magical flight, or instantaneous transport from one place to another, used as a means of travel.

The relaunch of the railway comes alongside other major improvement works including new 'magic carpet' conveyor belts for skiers using the beginner slopes.

2023 April 5, “News in pictures: New livery adorns Cairngorm funicular”, in RAIL, number 980, page 28:

(skiing) A conveyor belt to transport skiers/snowboarders.


Mary Sue

From the name of an intentionally over-the-top character in the 1973 Star Trek parody fan fiction A Trekkie's Tale by Paula Smith.

Bella may be a Mary Sue, but if we don't identify with her, and even if we do, there's no other interpretive place for us in the universe.

2010 August 3, Ta-Nehisi Coates, “A Whole New World”, in The Atlantic:

She was a mashup of ideals that made her feel very fake; a Mary Sue who was popular, pretty, athletic, artistic, all the while loved by everyone who met her.

2015 January 20, Sian Cain, “Why a non-white Nancy Drew could be amazing”, in The Guardian:

So here's a radical suggestion: instead of being concerned about whether her Mary Sue flawlessness is a problem, why not, just this once, enjoy it for what it is?

2015 December 19, Tasha Robinson, “With Star Wars' Rey, we've reached Peak Strong Female Character”, in The Verge:

There is one, and only one, previously unheard of flaw that keeps Nanase from being the merriest of Mary Sues. That flaw is...

2022 August 18, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive - EGS:NP (webcomic), Comic for Thursday, Aug 18, 2022:

(fandom slang, usually derogatory) A fictional character, usually female, whose implausible talents and likeability weaken the story.


olipa kerran

Olipa kerran susi...

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) once upon a time there was


կար-չկար

կար-չկար • (kar-čʻkar)

kar-čʻkar (romanization)
կար չկար (alternative)

/kɑɾ t͡ʃʰəˈkɑɾ/

[kɑɾ t͡ʃʰəkɑ́ɾ]

/ɡɑɾ t͡ʃəˈɡɑɾ/

[ɡɑɾ t͡ʃʰəɡɑ́ɾ]

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) Once upon a time. Literally, “there was, there was not…”.


լինում է, չի լինում

լինում է, չի լինում

լինում է, չի լինում • (linum ē, čʻi linum)

linum ē (romanization)
čʻi linum (romanization)


กาลครั้งหนึ่ง

th-phrase

กาลครั้งหนึ่ง • (gaa-lá-kráng-nʉ̀ng)

From กาล (gaan, “time”) + ครั้ง (kráng, classifier for time) + หนึ่ง (nʉ̀ng, “one”).

com

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) once upon a time.


seniai, labai seniai

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) once upon a time


eucatastrophe

From eu- + catastrophe, coined by English author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien in 1944 as part of a letter: see quotation.

coinage

But at the story of the little boy (which is a fully attested fact of course) with its apparent sad ending and then its sudden unhoped-for happy ending, I was deeply moved and had that peculiar emotion we all have – though not often. […] For it I coined the word ‘eucatastrophe’: the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce).

[1944 November 7, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “88. From a Letter to Christopher Tolkien[,] 28 October 1944 (FS 58)”, in Humphrey Carpenter with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien, editors, Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1981, →ISBN; The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Houghton Mifflin paperback edition, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000, →ISBN, page 100:

Let us hymn the small but journal wonders
of Nature and of households, and then finish
on a serio-comic note with legends
of ultimate eucatastrophe,
regeneration beyond the waters.

1969 June 5, W. H. Auden, “Epistle to a Godson”, in The New York Review, issue:

The "problem" of T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot comes partly from our post-Christian sense of a world where Tolkien's eucatastrophes never happen, and partly from the way we write biography.

1988, Alzina Stone Dale, “Prologue: J. Alfred Prufrock among the Prophets”, in T. S. Eliot: The Philosopher Poet (The Wheaton Literary Series), Wheaton, Ill.: Harold Shaw, →ISBN; T. S. Eliot: The Philsopher-Poet, Authors Guild Backprint.com edition, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, 2004, →ISBN, page 5:

Literary unity demands that once a eucatastrophe happens it must be accepted as part of the story rather than as an arbitrary whim of the author.

2015, John J. Davenport, quoting Eleanor Helms, “The Virtues of Ambivalence: Wholeheartedness as Existential Telos and the Unwillable Completion of Narravives”, in John Lippitt, Patrick Stokes, editors, Narrative, Identity and the Kierkegaardian Self, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 159:

(narratology) A catastrophe (dramatic event leading to plot resolution) that results in the protagonist's well-being.

eucatastrophe

catastrophe that results in the protagonist's well-being


il était une fois

LL-Q150 (fra)-Lyokoï-il était une fois.wav

there was once…; once upon a time, there was… (traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales)


analepsis

en-noun

analepsis (countable and uncountable, plural analepses)

From Ancient Greek ἀνάληψις (análēpsis).

A form of flashback in which earlier parts of a narrative are related to others that have already been narrated

(medicine, archaic) Recovery of strength after sickness.

(obsolete, medicine) A kind of epileptic attack, originating from gastric disorder.


ковёр-самолёт

ru-noun+

ковёр-самолёт • (kovjór-samoljót) m inan (genitive ковра́-самолёта, nominative plural ковры́-самолёты, genitive plural ковро́в-самолётов)

kovjór-samoljót (romanization)
ковра́-самолёта (genitive)
ковры́-самолёты (nominative plural)
ковро́в-самолётов (genitive plural)
ковёр-самолёт (nominative singular)
ковры́-самолёты (nominative plural)
ковра́-самолёта (genitive singular)
ковро́в-самолётов (genitive plural)
ковру́-самолёту (dative singular)
ковра́м-самолётам (dative plural)
ковёр-самолёт (accusative singular)
ковры́-самолёты (accusative plural)
ковро́м-самолётом (instrumental singular)
ковра́ми-самолётами (instrumental plural)
ковре́-самолёте (prepositional singular)
ковра́х-самолётах (plural prepositional)

[kɐˈvʲɵr səmɐˈlʲɵt]

ко вёр- са мо лёт

From ковёр (kovjór) + самолёт (samoljót).

(aviation, fantasy, fiction) flying carpet, magic carpet (carpet capable of magical flight)


happy end

happy ends (plural)
happy-end (alternative)


happy end

happy end (nominative singular)
happy endy (nominative plural)
happy endu (genitive singular)
happy endów (genitive plural)
happy endowi (dative singular)
happy endom (dative plural)
happy end (accusative singular)
happy endy (accusative plural)
happy endem (instrumental singular)
happy endami (instrumental plural)
happy endzie (locative singular)
happy endach (locative plural)
happy endzie (singular vocative)
happy endy (plural vocative)

[please specify syllabification manually]

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from happy ending.

pseudo-loan

(film, literature, theater) happy ending (clichéd conclusion in which all loose ends are tied up and all main characters are content)


μια φορά κι έναν καιρό

head

μια φορά κι έναν καιρό • (mia forá ki énan kairó)

EL-μια-φορά-κι-έναν-καιρό.ogg

en-μια_φορά_κι_έναν_καιρό-el-phrase-cc~m2v9n

kókkini klostí deméni stin anémi tyligméni

κόκκινη κλωστή δεμένη στην ανέμη τυλιγμένη

dós’ tis klótso na gyrísei, paramýthi n’ archinísei

δώσ’ της κλότσο να γυρίσει, παραμύθι ν’ αρχινήσει


Chekhov's gun

Calque of Russian Чеховское ружьё (Čexovskoje ružʹjó). The principle was articulated by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov and reported in various forms.

cal

Чеховское ружьё

It seems like a violation of Chekhov’s gun rule to put Naomi Campbell in the first act and not have her throw a phone at someone in the third. (She tore up a check instead.)

2015 March 19, Alessandra Stanley, “'Empire' Finale Review: A Sizzling End to Season One”, in New York Times:

An on-screen pill bottle works like Chekhov’s gun: Eventually, its contents will be fired at an actor’s mouth, or smashed between his lips, or hurled into his gullet.

2023 May 1, Daniel Engber, “No One in Movies Knows How to Swallow a Pill”, in The Atlantic:

(literature) A dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed.


bha siud ann uaireigin

Bha siud ann uaireigin duine a bha...

Once upon a time there was a man who was...


reset button

But after a year of sagging ratings, Dallas hit the reset button, by having Pam wake up to see Bobby, very much alive, lathering up in their shower. The entire 1985–86 season, including Bobby's death, had been a bad dream of Pam's, and now that she was awake, Dallas could go on the way it should have, with the previous year's events effectively wiped away.

2016, David Bianculli, The Platinum Age of Television […] , Anchor, →ISBN, page 140:

Voyager the show ambles and meanders just like Voyager the ship, hypothetically exploring new territory but actually doomed to retreads and consequence-free episodic storytelling (heavy on what fans came to call “the Reset Button” that restores the status quo), exacerbated by overuse of technobabble.

2020, Murray Leeder, “Confessions of an Anti-Fan”, in Robert L. Lively, editor, Exploring Star Trek: Voyager: Critical Essays, McFarland, →ISBN, page 250:

(fiction) A plot device that interrupts continuity in works of fiction, by returning characters and situations to the status quo they held before certain changes were introduced.


shoulder devil

A devil representing a person's temptations in works of fiction, portrayed as sitting on one shoulder while a shoulder angel occupies the other.


shoulder angel

An angel representing a person's conscience in works of fiction, portrayed as sitting on one shoulder while a shoulder devil occupies the other.


handwavium

From hand waving + -ium (“the chemical element suffix”).

af

My handwavium was an invented mineral, but - reading up - what about platinum? Could I substitute platinum for handwavium?

2008 February 3, Jacey Bedford <jacey@artisan-harmony.com>, “Handwavium”, in rec.arts.sf.composition (Usenet):

It made no sense to him that their very impossibility was their pleasure. He puzzled over the spacecraft and their handwavium drives. "The thousand and one nights of Scheherazade, told by an engineering student who failed his graduation exams," was his literary judgment.

2008 March, Alexander Jablokov, “The Boarder”, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 114, number 3, Concord, N.H.: Fantasy House, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9:

She writes romantic fantasy and science fiction, and makes liberal use of the substance known as handwavium.

2012, Imogen Howson, Blood of the Volcano, Cincinnati, Oh.: Samhain Publishing, →ISBN, page 167:

(informal, fiction) Any hypothetical but unobtainable material with desirable engineering properties.


big red button

A real, fictional, or figurative button that controls a function of critical importance and that is usually large and red, ensuring quick identification.


იყო და არა იყო რა

head

იყო და არა იყო რა

იყო და არა იყო რა • (iq̇o da ara iq̇o ra)

იყო და არა იყო რა

იყო და არა იყო რა

Literally, “there was and there was not”.


meet cute

meet cutes (plural)
meet-cute (alternative)

Claudette Colbert
Ernst Lubitsch
Gary Cooper

Accidentally coined by German-American film director Ernst Lubitsch (1892–1947), who had difficulty speaking English, to describe the encounter between the characters played by Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper in the 1938 film Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife.

If this is a distortion of reality, it is a knowingly utopian gesture, and the wit of such conceits lies in placing in tension the ideal with the real and so being more than a series of fancy ‘meet cutes’: […]

1989, Bruce Babington, Peter William Evans, Affairs to Remember: The Hollywood Comedy of the Sexes, Manchester, New York, N.Y.: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 11:

The hunt for love saturates Western culture. […] Romantic comedies have characters discover one another serendipitously, called "meet-cutes." The lead clumsily spills a drink on his future love interest, setting off a chain of events to love. Meet-cutes affirm the idea that possibility is all around us: love can happen anywhere, at anytime, and with anyone.

2013, Jaime Woo, “How to Find Love on Grindr (if You Hafta)”, in Meet Grindr: How One App Changed the Way We Connect, Canada: [Lulu.com], →ISBN, page 108, column 1:

In some respects, it might be too faithful to the genre it savages; as in many real rom-coms, the energy flags during the plot’s backstretch, and audiences may share the drifting interest of Kyle (Bill Hader) and Karen (Ellie Kemper), who come to regret ever asking Joel and Molly to chronicle their meet-cute.

2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2017-12-07:

When Wade first crosses paths with Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), the ass-kicking fellow “gunter” (or egg hunter) with whom he becomes infatuated, the pair’s meet cute is predicated on the swapping of favorite pop-culture quotes.

2018 March 26, A. A. Dowd, “Steven Spielberg Finds Fun, and maybe even a Soul, in the Pandering Pastiche of Ready Player One”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2018-05-31:

Café Pick Me Up was a cosy little place with a low pressed-metal ceiling, crammed full of tiny tables, with French cafe chairs and mellow lighting. If you were to write a romcom featuring a meet cute, you’d set it there.

2021 December 26, Alys Fowler, “My winter of love: I was homesick in New York. The quiet Danish poet was just what I was longing for”, in The Guardian:

(narratology, informal) A situation in a film, television series, etc., in which a potential romantic couple meet for the first time in a way that is considered adorable, amusing, or cute.


ello foi una vegada

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) (idiomatic) once upon a time


tragic flaw

When a heroine's tragic flaw takes the form of uncontrollable love for an outlaw, the paths of momentary glory can lead but to defeat.

1948 May 31, Harold V. Cohen, "'Green Grass of Wyoming'" (film review), Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. 28 (retrieved 5 July 2012)

If the jury, who begin their final deliberations tomorrow, find the black All-American hero guilty of murdering his white wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, they will have concluded that he succumbed to the oldest tragic flaw in the book, the green-eyed monster of jealousy.

1995 October 1, John Carlin, “OJ's guilt is a black and white choice”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2012-07-05:

The control-freak instinct runs too deep. . . . This runs the risk of becoming a tragic flaw.

2002 February 25, J. F. O. McAllistair, “Blair the Bungee Jumper”, in Time:

(chiefly literary criticism) A personality trait or other characteristic of a real or fictional individual which is immoral, destructive, or otherwise faulty and which leads to the ruin or profound suffering of that individual.


balonium

From baloney + -ium. See baloney (“nonsense”).

I assumed starship fuel (antimatter or balonium) could be produced from electricity with perfect conversion, so it cost exactly what electricity did — good enough for the one-digit-or-so accuracy needed.

1990, Analog science fact, science fiction: Volume 110:

Suppose that we have a Geiger counter and we are able to make measurements, during a ten hour period, of the balonium sample.

1993, American Statistical Association, Proceedings of the Section on Statistical Education:

The data in Table 7.7 were taken for the highly radioactive element balonium-245.

2004, Mark T. Holtzapple, W. Dan Reece, Concepts in Engineering:

List of fictional elements, materials, isotopes and subatomic particles


bed trick

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-bed trick.wav

A plot device in traditional literature and theatre where a character begins sexual activity with someone else, then steals away after the lights are off, allowing another character to continue instead.


bylo nebylo

bylo nebylo v jednom dalekém městě

once upon a time (traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales)


ハッピーエンド

Wasei eigo (和製英語; pseudo-anglicism), derived from happy + end, calque of English happy ending


happy ever after

en-noun

happy ever after (plural happy ever afters)

happily ever after
happily ever after#English

happily ever after

(by extension) Synonym of happily ever after (“a happy period of time which is imagined never to end; specifically, the state of happiness in which one or more people (typically a loving couple) dwell for the rest of his, her, their, etc., lives”).


triângulo amoroso

pt-noun

triângulo amoroso m (plural triângulos amorosos, metaphonic)

triângulos amorosos (plural)
metaphonic (plural)

love triangle (situation in which two people vie for the love of a third)


昔昔

昔昔 (canonical)
mukashi mukashi (romanization)

Reduplication of 昔(むかし) (mukashi, “the past, old times”).

昔昔、遠いところに…


ゆめおち

ゆめおち (canonical)
ゆめオチ (canonical)
yumeochi (romanization)

(fiction) Revealing that the a story was all part of a dream; the "it was all a dream" ending.


デウス・エクス・マキナ

Learned borrowing from Latin deus ex māchinā

lbor

ja:デウス・エクス・マキナ


Belly of the Whale

Coined by Joseph Campbell in 1949. Probably an allusion to the book of Jonah in the Bible, in which Jonah was swallowed by a great fish.

A story element which represents the final separation from a hero's known world and self.


имало едно време

head

и́мало едно́ вре́ме

и́мало едно́ вре́ме • (ímalo ednó vréme)

и́мало едно́ вре́ме (canonical)
ímalo ednó vréme (romanization)


روزی از روزها

روزی از روزها • (ruzi az ruz-hâ)


روزی روزگاری

روزی روزگاری • (ruzi ruzegâri)


love quadrangle

en-noun

love quadrangle (plural love quadrangles)

(rare) A situation in which three people vie for the love of a fourth person.


love rectangle

But the breakup and awkward love rectangle were a recurring topic in Google's gossip mill, adding even more tension.

2022, Mark Bergen, Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube’s Chaotic Rise to World Domination, Penguin, →ISBN:


トゥルーエンド

ja-noun

トゥルーエンド • (turū endo)

Wasei eigo (和製英語; pseudo-anglicism), derived from true + end.

pseudo-loan

(gaming) "true" ending of a storyline with multiple endings (as decided by the game's creator), which is usually the most idyllic and ideal


fr-phrase

ils vécurent heureux et eurent beaucoup d'enfants

/il ve.ky.ʁ(ə).t‿ø.ʁø e yʁ bo.ku d‿ɑ̃.fɑ̃/

Literally, “they lived happily and had many children”.

lit

they lived happily ever after (used at the end of fairy tales)


phlebotinum

(science fiction) A fictional material used by authors to develop a plot requiring a material with properties not possessed by any real material.


kouzelná hůlka

kouzelná hůlka (nominative singular)
kouzelné hůlky (nominative plural)
kouzelné hůlky (genitive singular)
kouzelných hůlek (genitive plural)
kouzelné hůlce (dative singular)
kouzelným hůlkám (dative plural)
kouzelnou hůlku (accusative singular)
kouzelné hůlky (accusative plural)
kouzelná hůlko (singular vocative)
kouzelné hůlky (plural vocative)
kouzelné hůlce (locative singular)
kouzelných hůlkách (locative plural)
kouzelnou hůlkou (instrumental singular)
kouzelnými hůlkami (instrumental plural)


plot coupon

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-plot coupon.wav

[…] pain to see Clute single-handedly tackle multi-volume fantasy extrusion-product, with its flimsy plot coupons and its stale eucatastrophes.

2004, Foundation, volume 33, numbers 90-92, page 126:

(fandom slang) An object sought by a character in a story in order to achieve some objective, having little purpose beyond advancing the plot.


cando os animais falaban

Literally, “When animals used to speak”.

No tempo en que falaban os animales, achou unha vez un raposo moi larpeiro a un galo erguido na pola dun carballo e puxose a parolar co el diste xeito:
 — Bos días nos dé Deus amigo, como che vai?
 — Ben e a ti?
 — Non che oio ben; por qué non baixas? Sei que desconfías? Non sabes que hai unha orde que di que agora nin os gatos poden comer aos ratos, nin os raposos aos galos?

Once upon a time, a gluttonous fox found a rooster standing on an oak's branch, and he began chitchatting with the rooster in this manner:
 “Good morning on behalf of God, my friend, how do you do?”
 “Well, and you?”
 “I can barely hear you, why don't you come down? Or is it that you distrust? Don't you know that there is an order that says that now cats can't eat mice nor foxes roosters?”

(used at the beginnings of fairytales, idiomatic) once upon a time


biri var idi, biri yox idi

Literally, “one was, one wasn't”. Compare Turkish bir varmış, bir yokmuş, Persian یکی بود یکی نبود (yeki bud, yeki nabud).

cog

یکی بود یکی نبود

Biri var idi, bir yox idi, bir dənə qız var idi. Günlərin bir günündə, o...

Once upon a time, there was a girl. One day, she...

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) once upon a time


حاجيتك ما جيتك

head

حاجيتك ما جيتك

حاجيتك ما جيتك • (ḥājītak mā jītak)

Literally, “I narrate to you what I brought to you”.

lit

حاجيتك ما جيتك ببنت فبلاد برانية ..

ḥājītak mā jītak be-bint fe-blād barrāniyya ...

Once upon a time, there was a girl in a foreign land ...

(used at the beginning of children's stories) once upon a time


retrospekcja

retrospekcja (nominative singular)
retrospekcje (nominative plural)
retrospekcji (genitive singular)
retrospekcji (genitive plural)
retrospekcyj (archaic genitive plural)
retrospekcji (dative singular)
retrospekcjom (dative plural)
retrospekcję (accusative singular)
retrospekcje (accusative plural)
retrospekcją (instrumental singular)
retrospekcjami (instrumental plural)
retrospekcji (locative singular)
retrospekcjach (locative plural)
retrospekcjo (singular vocative)
retrospekcje (plural vocative)

retrospection (deliberate recall of past events)


bury your gays

(fandom slang) A fiction trope where gay characters tend to die or generally meet an untimely demise.


クリフハンガー

[kɯ̟ɾʲiɸɯ̟hã̠ŋɡa̠ː]


love polygon

/ˈlʌv ˈpɒlɪɡən/

This entangled love polygon (for it is far larger than a triangle) would seem to be at the heart of the conflict among the characters.6 Clearly, unrequited love, love triangles, intense fascinations, the absurdities of love,[…]

2020 November 17, Dianne Rothleder, Fraught Decisions in Plato and Shakespeare, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 43:

A situation in which at least two people vie for the love of another individual.


alien space bats

Coined in the Usenet newsgroup soc.history.what-if.

(fandom slang) An implausible point of divergence from reality, used as a plot device in alternate history.


Truck-kun

What if I was walking across the street when I was summoned, only to be dropped back in front of a speeding truck. Lots of dodgy stories start with Truck-kun, and I don't want mine to end with it.

2022, Dean Henegar, “The Summoned Life”, in Legendary LitRPG: An All Genres LitRPG Anthology, unnumbered page:

While Truck-kun does cause one form of ending—the character is dead in their original world—it's an integral part of the main character's transportation to a new world, one where they can explore, learn, and grow.

2022, Natasha Yglesias, Anime Tarot Deck and Guidebook: Explore the Archetypes, Symbolism, and Magic in Anime, page 29:

So I figure I might as well chuck a "Truck-kun" into my own story too! Gotta get in while the getting's good!!

2023, Shizuki Fujisawa, translated by Cerridwyn Graffham, The Transcendent One-Sided Love of Yoshida the Catch, volume 3, unnumbered page:

(chiefly Japanese fiction, fandom slang, humorous) In the isekai genre, a truck that sets off the plot by hitting the protagonist, transporting them into the fantastical setting (typically by killing them in the real world).


절단마공

jeoldanmagong (romanization)
切斷魔功 (hanja)

[t͡ɕʌ̹ɭt͈a̠nma̠ɡo̞ŋ]

Sino-Korean word from 절단(切斷) (jeoldan, “cut, split”) + 마공(魔功) (magong, “(wuxia) dark sorcery”).

ko-etym-sino

(Internet slang) cliffhanger (plot device)


bomba zegarowa

bomba zegarowa (nominative singular)
bomby zegarowe (nominative plural)
bomby zegarowej (genitive singular)
bomb zegarowych (genitive plural)
bombie zegarowej (dative singular)
bombom zegarowym (dative plural)
bombę zegarową (accusative singular)
bomby zegarowe (accusative plural)
bombą zegarową (instrumental singular)
bombami zegarowymi (instrumental plural)
bombie zegarowej (locative singular)
bombach zegarowych (locative plural)
bombo zegarowa (singular vocative)
bomby zegarowe (plural vocative)

(figuratively) time bomb (situation that threatens to have disastrous consequences at some future time)


latający dywan

latający dywan (nominative singular)
latające dywany (nominative plural)
latającego dywanu (genitive singular)
latających dywanów (genitive plural)
latającemu dywanowi (dative singular)
latającym dywanom (dative plural)
latający dywan (accusative singular)
latające dywany (accusative plural)
latającym dywanem (instrumental singular)
latającymi dywanami (instrumental plural)
latającym dywanie (locative singular)
latających dywanach (locative plural)
latający dywanie (singular vocative)
latające dywany (plural vocative)

(aviation, fantasy, fiction) flying carpet, magic carpet (carpet capable of magical flight)


guionazo

¿Lo de Bakugo es un “guionazo”?, tal vez. Pero también hemos de tomar en cuenta que en esta guerra, todos los héroes profesionales están siendo testigos de cómo su inacción causó una gran catástrofe y ahora le está costando la vida a unos niños que no deberían estar viviendo una situación tan terrible, lo cual los lleva a incluso sacrificar sus vidas para rescatar la vida y el futuro de un joven estudiante.

2022 August 30, ““My Hero Academia”, manga 364: fanáticos discuten por el posible regreso de Bakugo”, in La República, archived from the original on 2024-05-07:

2023 June 20, Chirumiru, “Japoneses critican que hubo un ‘guionazo’ en Kimetsu no Yaiba”, in Kudasai, archived from the original on 2024-05-07:

En eso de los guionazos te doy toda la razón, es un sinsentido, pero para mí pesa más el personaje de obito niño o cuando era Tobi (antes de que le rompieran la máscara) que lo de después, que ya te digo que lo de que se vuelva bueno es una cagada,[…]

2024 January 10, @ismavader_14, Threads, archived from the original on 2024-05-07:

(fandom slang, chiefly manga, anime) a deus ex machina; a narrative decision that resolves a conflict at the expense of logical consistency or narrative coherence; a conflict resolution that leads to a plot hole; a contrived plot resolution.


felizes para sempre

O povo mete o pau / Diz que eu troco de roupa / Igual troco de gente / Mas eu só tô caçando / O meu felizes para sempre

2023, “Felizes para Sempre”, in Identidade (Ao Vivo), performed by Maiara & Maraisa:

People talk smack / They say I change clothes / Like I change people / But I'm just looking / For my happily ever after

happily ever after (a happy period of time which is imagined never to end)


noong unang panahon

tl-head

noóng unang panahón (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜓᜂᜅ᜔ ᜂᜈᜅ᜔ ᜉᜈᜑᜓᜈ᜔)

noóng unang panahón (canonical)
ᜈᜓᜂᜅ᜔ ᜂᜈᜅ᜔ ᜉᜈᜑᜓᜈ᜔ (Baybayin)