# Words that seem meant for only one other word **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [December 4, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380 "2019-12-04T22:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/1 "2019-12-04T22:33:22Z")
Is there any kind of **maw** other than a ‘gaping’ one? Are there **ides** any time other than in ‘March’? Anything else done in **lock-step** other than ‘walking’? Not the end of the world if there’s no bolding/quotes. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/2 "2019-12-09T02:41:01Z")
Is there a **vim** without verve, or a verve without vim? Who ever heard of a **cranny** without a nook? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/3 "2019-12-09T03:57:41Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Are there **ides** any time other than in ‘March’? Uh, yes. It’s the dating system used by the Romans. There was an Ides in every month. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman\_calendar#Days](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_calendar#Days) \*Ensues \*is a double one. Panic ensues. Hilarity ensues. Almost nothing else does. [Almost](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5674741). ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/4 "2019-12-17T13:23:52Z")
Is there ever a **kith** without a kin? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/5 "2019-12-17T14:07:54Z")
Is jetsam ever not accompanied by flotsam? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/6 "2019-12-17T14:18:07Z")
Personally, I only ever see “vim” with “vigor”. Or with “emacs”, “pico”, or “ed”, but that’s different. But to continue the game, is there ever **havoc** without it being cried? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/7 "2019-12-17T22:28:40Z")
Sometimes havoc gets wreaked. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/8 "2019-12-17T22:31:12Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Is jetsam ever not accompanied by flotsam? If they save the ship from sinking, yes. [Jetsam](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jetsam) ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/9 "2019-12-18T14:15:45Z")
To paraphrase George Carlin on the phrase “odds and ends”: Say you have 24 odds and ends on a table. You take 23 of them off. What do you have left, an odd or an end? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/10 "2019-12-18T14:19:35Z")
Is anything ever **unmitigated** except **gall**? (Well, I guess “unmitigated disaster” is pretty common too) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/11 "2019-12-18T22:40:35Z")
Can anything be described as “fell” besides a “swoop”? And why can there only be one? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/12 "2019-12-18T22:57:02Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Can anything be described as “fell” besides a “swoop”? And why can there only be one? It’s a direct quote from Shakespeare, specifically Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 3: Macduff (after learning that his wife and children have been murdered): He has no children. All my pretty ones? Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens and their dam At one fell swoop? > [@Guest-starring: Id!](#): > > Anything else done in lock-step other than ‘walking’? Lockstep is derived from walking, but is used metaphorically all the time: “They raised prices in lockstep with those of foreign competitors.” “The lockstep Congressional Republican defense of President Donald Trump…” “Amazon’s shipping and logistics spend remains in lockstep with expectations.” ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/13 "2019-12-29T00:29:43Z")
Any kind of **gaggle** other than the one for “geese”? Only collective noun I could find, for this. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/14 "2019-12-29T04:07:33Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Any kind of **gaggle** other than the one for “geese”? > > Only collective noun I could find, for this. Reporters gathering around a politician is sometimes called a “press gaggle”. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/15 "2019-12-29T04:20:15Z")
Do bagatelles come in forms other than “mere”? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/16 "2019-12-29T08:31:18Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > Is anything ever **unmitigated** except **gall**? > > (Well, I guess “unmitigated disaster” is pretty common too) **Disaster** is the most common noun form collocated with _unmitigated_ as an attributive adjective. _ **Gall** _ is #2, _ **success** _ is #3, **failure** is #4, and _ **joy** _ is #5. The OP is looking for _ **exclusive collocations** _, and in fact, much of language is collocative to various degrees. _Unmitigated_ is somewhat collocative, but not exclusively, as the OP is asking. Some words are highly collocative, such as auspicious (_event_, _moment_, _occasion_). Many noun forms are highly exclusive in the verbs that will take them as objects. What verbs do we use with _suicide_, meaning to actually take one’s life? You can’t: \*_do suicide_ \*_make suicide_ \*_undertake suicide_ etc. What the OP is addressing is probably a lot more common than most people realize. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/17 "2019-12-29T09:09:17Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Is there a **vim** without verve, or a verve without vim? > > Who ever heard of a **cranny** without a nook? In linguistics this kind of pair is called a _binomial_. Some binomials are “irreversible,” in that they are virtually always used with one of the terms first. For example, if someone were to say, \*_ends and odds_, (instead of _odds and ends_), they might not even be understood. Others may occur reversed to an extent (_toss and turn_ / _turn and toss_.) Many binomials are “echoic,” such as _cease and desist_, which are synonymous, and function as a kind of intensifier. Many are words that rarely occur without the other, such as the OP is calling for. _Vim_ actually occurs more frequently as _vim and vigor_ than _vim and verve_. In 2006, _Time_ magazine wrote that George W. Bush was “selling himself with with more **vim and certitude** than at any other time since he was re-elected 15 months ago.” On the today show, Matt Lauer said to Al Roker: “You’re full of you-know-what,” to which Roker answered, “Vim.” ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/18 "2019-12-29T09:48:53Z")
All the welkin ever does is ring, and I’ve never seen a petard that didn’t have someone hoisted on it. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/19 "2020-01-10T23:22:48Z")
Can you hunker anywhere but down? ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/20 "2020-01-11T02:41:47Z")
“Petards” don’t have anyone hoisted _on_ them – they’re bombs, and (again with the Shakespeare quote) you can be “hoisted” – old usage of that word meaning thrown in the air – _by_ them. I suspect this one is just an obsolete word preserved by a single quotation, not a true binomial. Or are all binomials relics of nearly-obsolete words like that? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380.md?page=2)