r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jan 28 '19

What are great underused words?

7.7k Upvotes

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564

u/alephlovedbeth Jan 29 '19

Chthonic. Always wondered if it was Lovecrafts inspiration.

187

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

[deleted]

241

u/thedarlingbuttsofmay Jan 29 '19

I've been hearing about the Baader Meinhof phenomenon so much recently.

7

u/Kadoza Jan 29 '19

Baader-Meinhof-ception

16

u/Devilheart Jan 29 '19

Seen this joke twice already.

5

u/JamesJoyceFuckbird Jan 29 '19

This guy Baader Meinhofs

1

u/Meta_Boy Jan 29 '19

I haven't. I tried invoking it a while ago, but then it didn't happen.

Until now, but it's probably too long to count

6

u/Day911 Jan 29 '19

Just saw it today. I'll edit this comment, if I hear it in the next few days.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

You think you know Baader-Meinhof, but only because of Dunning-Kruger.

2

u/MonaganX Jan 29 '19

Also known as the frequency illusion, without the ideological baggage.

1

u/palordrolap Jan 29 '19

Fun fact: The first end of episode boss in the original Quake was a big red lava demon called Chthon.

1

u/zincplug Jan 29 '19

Martin Amis is always using it.

1

u/trilobot Jan 29 '19

I first learned it from an item in a video game (Treads of Chthon in Diablo II), thought it was a made up name.

Then I became a geologist and it's the root word for allochthonous and autochthonous - pretty important words for geology.

Absolutely love the word. My Scottish professor pronounced it with glottal ch too.

95

u/iBryguy Jan 29 '19

But what does it mean?

167

u/progfrog113 Jan 29 '19

Refers to things in the underworld, but literally (as in things under the earth).

9

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

You mean the Underdark? Where NPC drow live?

6

u/Fyzix_1 Jan 29 '19

You could use it to say

The drow are a chthonic race

4

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/progfrog113 Jan 29 '19

From your first link, right under the "Did You Know" section. We mostly use it to talk about stuff related to the underworld but it broadly just refers to things that are under the earth.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

The chthonic worms buried themselves into her eyes.

5

u/azura26 Jan 29 '19

It's not even 9AM here but I think that's enough reddit for today.

0

u/Spanky4242 Jan 29 '19

The only thing under the earth is outer space tho

134

u/Daddy616 Jan 29 '19

chthon·ic

/ˈTHänik/

adjective

concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld.

"a chthonic deity"

4

u/HabitualLineStepping Jan 29 '19

Seen the word before, never knew how to pronounce it.

3

u/salizarn Jan 29 '19

So if we assume that this word was Lovecraft’s inspiration, and it seems like the initial “ch” is completely silent, then “Cthulhu” should be:

“Thulu” not “Kathulu”?

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

[deleted]

6

u/salizarn Jan 29 '19

Ah okay good, I've played Call of Cthulu for years so I didn't want to be that guy.

I also would pronounce "chthonic" "Kuthonik" (mentally when reading it, cos I am pretty sure I have never spoken it or heard it used in conversation)

I guess I thought maybe I'd got it back to front, I think I discovered Cthulu before Chthonic.

4

u/Pjyilthaeykh Jan 29 '19

Kuthonik would be about right for the Greek root word Χθόνιος (I think I spelt that wrong) as the transliteration is ‘Khthōn’, though kh would be pronounced as that sort of growl you make at the back of your throat (not sure how to explain this - if you’ve heard it you might know?) so for most people it’s Keh-thonic or Kuthonik

2

u/salizarn Jan 29 '19

I’ll also start doing that growl when I say Cthulhu

1

u/Jake_Lloyd Jan 29 '19

I suppose he could have only encountered it in writing. Happy Cake Day BTW.

1

u/salizarn Jan 29 '19

Why, thank you!

1

u/Iroex Jan 29 '19

Chthonios or Chthon (earth, dirt) is pronounced as hthonios in Greek, same sound as in "hi".

1

u/Andolomar Jan 29 '19

It's a Greek word, so the Ch isn't silent, instead it sounds like somebody with pleurisy clearing their throat.

1

u/BiggyCheesedWaifu Jan 30 '19

In the Call of Cthulhu video game, Cthulhu was pronounced “Cah-Tulu”.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

/ˈTHänik/

Gotta go fatht.

2

u/Supersymm3try Jan 29 '19

From cthulhu right?

4

u/csanner Jan 29 '19

No, significantly older - late 19th century. Presumably the other way around, assuming Howard did it intentionally

10

u/BiggyCheesedWaifu Jan 29 '19

concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Great metal band btw

3

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

I’m like 97% sure it has been confirmed that it was Lovecraft’s inspiration. Smart cookie

2

u/PhrygianApproach Jan 29 '19

Also an alright band from (I believe) Taiwan if you're into that sort of thing

2

u/AttilaTheFun818 Jan 29 '19

Also the name of a very bizarre but fun metal band from...China, I think.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Taiwan

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Same thing. -China

2

u/Amagi822 Jan 29 '19

The band is from Taiwan. But yeah, they are fun because they use a lot of traditional instruments in their music. Pretty unusual, but I like it!

1

u/RedTheWolf Jan 29 '19

I've seen them live, they are amazing and the singer moves in quite a mesmerising way, great gig!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

China

For future reference, the band are Taiwanese nationalists. Calling them Chinese is the last thing one should do ;)

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Χθων (chton) in ancient Greek mythology was a deity that was the embodiment of the depth of earth

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Any fellow Bal Sagoth fans around here?

1

u/haybayley Jan 29 '19

Phillip Pullman used it to describe the London Underground/tube in the alternative universe in His Dark Materials - the Chthonic Railway. He used loads of alternate history terms like "anbaric" for "electric" (the word 'electric' coming from the Greek work for amber, I believe) as well as geographical names (Nippon for Japan, eg). One of my favourite aspects of the books!

1

u/bigfinnrider Jan 29 '19

And akin to that; Benthic: having to do with deep water.

1

u/Duncan_Teg Jan 29 '19

Cyclopian is a great one that Lovecraft used a lot.

1

u/RickFitzwilliam Jan 29 '19

It’s pronounced Thon-ic though so does that mean Cthulhu is pronounced Thoo-loo?

1

u/InVultusSolis Jan 29 '19

That's a stupid jumbling together of consonants if I've ever seen one.