# 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:** 2
**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:** [October 10, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/21 "2020-10-10T20:04:03Z")
Any kind of lucre other than the filthy kind? ---
**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 27, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/23 "2020-12-27T20:02:37Z")
😐 Can anything else be applied to “ante” other than “up”? (meh, there’s ‘penny ante’, I spose, even though ‘ante’ is used more as a noun than verb, there) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/24 "2020-12-27T21:40:34Z")
Anything akimbo besides arms? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/25 "2020-12-28T03:19:08Z")
Everybody knows that Shakespeare quote, but, when they bother to use the word, people write about fell fortune, fell winds, fell foes, fell fire, fell poison, fell seas, etc. Definitely not any kind of exclusive use. Maybe other meanings of “fell” are nowadays more fixed into phrases, like flesh and fell (more Shakespeare :), fell and skin, etc. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/26 "2020-12-28T05:48:31Z")
I don’t want my body riddled with anything. It always seems to be either cancer or bullets. ---
**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 28, 2020, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/27 "2020-12-28T05:55:53Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Anything akimbo besides arms? Legs, at a minimum. ---
**Author:** ![Bicycle\_Bill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bicycle_bill/32/6208_2.png) [@Bicycle\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bicycle_Bill)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/28 "2020-12-28T07:13:43Z")
Aren’t legs usually ‘splayed’? _ **-“BB”-** _ ---
**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 31, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/29 "2020-12-31T20:27:02Z")
I’ve always read it as “arms and legs akimbo”. YMMV. > [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I don’t want my body riddled with anything. It always seems to be either cancer or bullets. I’d say that an object can be riddled with things. (“The door of his jeep was riddled with pockmarks.”) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/30 "2020-12-31T23:22:08Z")
Can a neti be anything other than a pot? ---
**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:** [January 5, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/31 "2021-01-05T22:57:35Z")
Are we addled by anything other than drugs? ---
**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:** [January 6, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/32 "2021-01-06T19:18:37Z")
I’ve heard woo-addled. Also god-addled. But they used the hyphen. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/33 "2021-01-06T19:24:53Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > 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. This reminds me of one of the stupider things in 1st Edition AD+D: the _command_ spell, which forces its victim to perform an action for one round, but, being a low-level spell it was limited to one word which had to be a verb. So “Surrender” would work because it is a one-word imperative verb. But “suicide” would not work, nor would “kill yourself” because that’s two words. In _English_, that is. Everyone in a fantasy setting speaks English because of course they do. Logic prevailed in subsequent editions and the spell restriction was no longer constructed like that. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/34 "2021-01-06T19:42:09Z")
How about _Guns Akimbo_? > **[Guns Akimbo (2019) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6902676/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0)** > > Guns Akimbo: Directed by Jason Howden. With Daniel Radcliffe, Samara Weaving, Ned Dennehy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo. A guy relies on his newly-acquired gladiator skills to save his ex-girlfriend from kidnappers. Actually that sounds like it should be the name of a member of the Yakuza. ---
**Author:** ![Bicycle\_Bill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bicycle_bill/32/6208_2.png) [@Bicycle\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bicycle_Bill)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/35 "2021-01-07T08:00:30Z")
Well, you’re obviously thinking of the word “commit”. But one can also ‘attempt’ suicide, which is usually the pairing when one tries to kill oneself but fails. And of course, since the days of Dr. Kevorkian, one can ‘assist’ a suicide. I believe in certain states it’s even been legalized. _ **-“BB”-** _ ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/36 "2021-01-20T22:17:41Z")
If you’re a doctor, you’ll probably have other pairing words, but what else goes with “proctological” except “examination”? ---
**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:** [April 24, 2021, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/37 "2021-04-24T05:03:53Z")
Is “asunder” the only way one can be “rent”? > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > but what else goes with “proctological” except “examination”? probe? prod? poke? paw? query? ---
**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:** [September 11, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/38 "2021-09-11T00:47:26Z")
Considering the well-known phrase cliche, have we come across a petard that has been anything but hoisted upon? Never came across any other use for it, myself. ---
**Author:** ![boson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boson/32/11407_2.png) [@boson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boson)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/39 "2021-10-19T04:01:07Z")
I took the whole kit but not the kaboodle. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/40 "2021-10-30T16:44:20Z")
Jeez! TIL! All this time - I stupidly thought it was “kitten kaboodle”, and was always wondering what sense that tried to make. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380/41 "2021-10-31T17:38:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But to continue the game, is there ever **havoc** without it being cried? Yes it also gets wreaked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-seem-meant-for-only-one-other-word/844380.md?page=3)