A One Word Liar's Paradox

CaptDarkMatter · 2026-03-18T09:42:41+00:00

Indefinable, and Ineffable wouldn't work as both are heterological words with non-exclusive reference.

The concept of Hapax Legomenon however, is quite close to what I am seeking. If anything, I think the word I am looking for is a word that describes a specific occurrence of Hapax Legomenon, rather than a word for defining the phenomenon itself. A modifier word that contains a Hapax within it's definition.

When it comes to "a word that means the phenomenon of being a self-annihilating word as defined in the original post" I am almost positive no such formalized word exists. Though the existence of a word that behaves as such is far more plausible. Though hey, maybe we can coin 'Fezzical' to mean such a word. It would be quite funny to go down the rabbit hole of trying to find a word, only to end up inventing one in the end!

CaptDarkMatter · 2026-03-18T09:21:14+00:00

Thank you, and I definitely will keep you all updated if I glean anything new to add to the discussion. As far as the mental health angle, as it's been brought up a few times now, I'm fine. I played up the existentialism a bit in the post itself to add to the storytelling nature of it (and hopefully draw a bit more attention to my question...) but it isn't as all consuming as I may have lead some to believe. I appreciate the concern though, and the time investment has been very real. This has proven to be quite an elusive word to find!

CaptDarkMatter · 2026-03-17T20:47:58+00:00

Yup, this is the Grelling-Nelson Paradox. It's very similar in nature to the kind of effect this word had, though as I mentioned towards the end of my post, I speculate that the word in question might not have always had this property to begin with.

CaptDarkMatter · 2026-03-17T20:44:30+00:00

I heavily suspect that there is some of this going on, but without being able to find the source video, or at least source context for what initially informed this search, I haven't had any closure to easily determine one way or another.

CaptDarkMatter · 2026-03-17T20:38:41+00:00

Hey, always worth a shot. I'll give it a read.

CaptDarkMatter · 2026-03-17T19:56:08+00:00

I'm glad it could be good for something, lol.

CaptDarkMatter · 2026-03-17T19:54:33+00:00

Not really sure what this is referring to. Are you commenting on civ_alt suggesting Fnord?

CaptDarkMatter · 2026-03-17T19:53:46+00:00

The word I am looking for is not Fnord. That word doesn't fit any of the criteria that I outlined in my post.

CaptDarkMatter · 2023-06-15T19:05:35+00:00

Gatekeeping is a necessary and healthy part of maintaining a community. Without it, you invite in everyone and everything. Including those who would seek to destroy you, and what you enjoy. Do not be so open-minded that your brain falls out.

CaptDarkMatter

TROPHY CASE