Zugzwang

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
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Slava
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Zugzwang

Postby Slava » Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:59 pm

A wonderful German word from the chess world. Just over 100 years old, but quite resonant. Essentially it's a no-win situation, perfectly suitable to much of politics these days. It boils down to "Damned if you do, and damned if you don't", or "Damned no matter what you do".
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Philip Hudson
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Re: Zugzwang

Postby Philip Hudson » Fri Jan 24, 2014 3:27 am

From the German roots i immediately thought of a use for this word. Then I thought bettter of it. A literal rendering is, "You are required to pull."
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

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Dr. Goodword
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Re: Zugzwang

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:29 am

I don't think enough of our readers play chess. I think this word is too technical for a GW, though I could do a nice Word History on it.

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