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Wheedle

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 4:47 pm
by Slava
I rather like this word. It fits in so nicely with words like smarmy. "That smarmy used-car salesman tried to wheedle me into buying an ancient Pinto."

Re: Wheedle

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 7:48 am
by call_copse
Good suggestion, nice word.

Would you rather be schmoozed or wheedled (at?) by the hypothetical salesman? Personally I'm always up for a bit bit of schmoozing, thinking there may be a beverage or meal in it, wheedling may work but is generally annoying.

Re: Wheedle

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:23 am
by Slava
I agree that schmoozing does come off as a nicer concept. I feel it's more used in the sense of "chat up" a superior for personal gain.

Schmooze would also be a good Good Word. We haven't done it yet. It's fairly simple in etymological terms, but it is both transitive and intransitive, and can be a noun, too. An Americanism from the last years of the 19th century, it comes from Yiddish for gossip or idle conversation.

That's chat up in the American sense, by the way. :wink: