# Is there a word that means "of or related to guitar-playing?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 17, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380 "2007-06-17T19:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/21 "2007-06-18T22:15:23Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Yeah, what’s wrong with “guitar-playing”? Culinary is a just a fancy way of saying cooking. One cooks and one plays guitar. Cooking skills and guitar-playing skills. [/QUOTE] There could be any one of a number of things wrong with it, depending on the context. For one thing, it doesn’t work as a post-modifying adjective, so you’re out of luck if you want to use it that way. It also might not suit the literary style of the surrounding text. Compare the following pair, which illustrates both problems: WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things culinary. \*WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things guitar-playing. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/22 "2007-06-18T22:15:57Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Yeah, what’s wrong with “guitar-playing”? [/QUOTE] Isn’t that a verb, not an adjective as is ‘culinary’? _‘The passage in question demonstrates the pianistic nature of the music.’_ - replace ‘pianistic’ with your adjective. Does it work? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/23 "2007-06-18T22:20:38Z")
Or what **psychonaut** said. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/24 "2007-06-18T22:21:33Z")
> [@Gorilla Man](#): > > Isn’t that a verb, not an adjective as is ‘culinary’? “Guitar-playing” as **John Mace** was using it is not a verb but an adjectival gerund. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/25 "2007-06-18T22:49:18Z")
[QUOTE=brianjedi] I like guitaric, because it’s less cumbersome than guitaristic but still gets the meaning across. [/QUOTE] Nah, it has a rather nasty near-homophone. Imagine the shock and disgust from your audience when they mistakenly think you are waxing lyrical about your “catarrhic skills”. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/26 "2007-06-18T23:00:28Z")
[QUOTE=Kimstu] “Guitar-playing” as **John Mace** was using it is not a verb but an adjectival gerund. [/QUOTE] That was on the tip of my tongue 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/27 "2007-06-18T23:04:53Z")
[QUOTE=psychonaut] There could be any one of a number of things wrong with it, depending on the context. For one thing, it doesn’t work as a post-modifying adjective, so you’re out of luck if you want to use it that way. It also might not suit the literary style of the surrounding text. Compare the following pair, which illustrates both problems: WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things culinary. \*WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things guitar-playing. [/QUOTE] The latter is grammatical for me, but just doesn’t mean the right thing. I parse it as meaning WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things which play the guitar. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/28 "2007-06-19T00:22:45Z")
[QUOTE=psychonaut] WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things culinary. \*WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things guitar-playing. [/QUOTE] In that case I would say one of the following: \*WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things guitar-related. \*WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things guitar. \*WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things guitaring. I think “guitaring” is the closest. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/29 "2007-06-19T00:41:19Z")
[QUOTE=jackdavinci] In that case I would say one of the following: \*WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things guitar-related. \*WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things guitar. \*WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things guitaring. I think “guitaring” is the closest. [/QUOTE] To me, the one of those that works the best is the first, and the last one isn’t quite grammatical, or, at least, can only be used to mean “WoodenTaco was renowned as a master of all things which guitar”, where “guitar” is some sort of verb. But perhaps in your dialect, idiolect, or just your conscious estimation of things, the situation is different. Also, just to let you know, I think **psychonaut** was using the asterisk to mark ungrammatical sentences (i.e., sentences people would not actually say, would find jarring to hear, etc.), rather than just as a bullet point. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/30 "2007-06-19T01:39:32Z")
[QUOTE=psychonaut] Good suggestion. I just hope nobody proposes “luteal”. [/QUOTE] yeah, then we’d have a bunch of hotshots calling themselves Luteius Maximus. [QUOTE=Wooden Taco] The original conversational context was something like “My guitaristic skills almost make up for my complete lack of culinary talent.” [/QUOTE] In that context, maybe a more appropriate word would simply be “musical”, since culinary encompasses all of cooking. It’s not specific. Intrumental would work too, in that context, as previously mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/31 "2007-06-19T01:52:08Z")
Oooh! i think I actually just thought of it! **plectral** Although the term is a little broad, could apply to banjo, lute, balalaika and mandolin also. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-that-means-of-or-related-to-guitar-playing/408380/32 "2007-06-19T01:56:39Z")
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