Is there a word, or an expression, that describes the act of deceptively offering a person(s) a choice of future possibilities, that mollifies them long enough to complete a task, knowing that the end result is already determined?  Example: Mother at grocery offering unruly children a visit to either ice cream shop or candy store afterwards in exchange for calming down. Knowing full well after the grocery they will go straight home.
123113
Is there a simpler or better way of saying "promises that hold no meaning" or "promises without meaning"?
44006
Someone asked me why I am looking for a new job while I am currently working. This got me thinking if there is a idiom that says something about it being wise to not leave your current job until you have another sure thing lined up etc.
118454
I'm looking for a word which describes a task which I think is poorly designed and will lead to either mediocre results or failure, but which I have to do anyway, especially in a work setting.   The word "Dilbertian" comes to mind, however this word is obviously made up and is only meaningful to someone who is familiar with the Dilbert comic strip, so I'm looking for something which captures both the futility and compulsory nature of the task in a way which is meaningful to a broader audience.
10043
This feeling can often be paralyzing in that you see valid points on either side; makes you not able to choose a side.  Seeing can also be understanding, supporting, taking active part in.  I'm looking for words that don't imply a "Janus"/traitor tone or the ambivalence tone, but the (property of the) process that precedes the paralyzing feeling and whose property is more reminiscent of walking a mile in another man's shoes.  Tag says single-word but multi-word adjectives can be okay. I usually shy away from just adding -y to make adjectives.  Sorry for the vague wording, I'll happily take suggestions on how to word this better. Thanks! :)  Usage: "And above all, I hope __ will become the preferred method to prepare for debate, to: ..."  It's a two-sided process of analysis involving attacks and reconciliations of attacks.  I was hoping for an established academic term for this, but perhaps none exist. I will embrace an inventive new word for this! This is a paper for peer review, so the meaning should be apparent to academics.
99548
I'm not sure if this is a duplicate question, but I couldn't find anything on here on the topic. I can't seem to figure out what is actually meant when using the word "deceptive," or rather, what is the proper way to use it.  Example: "The floor is deceptively flat."  Do you mean that the floor is flatter than it looks, or it looks flatter than it is?  I know that's not a really good example, but I'm struggling to think of a better one now, however I think it serves to illustrate what I mean. There are many cases that I've felt that the word deceptive is used... interchangeably, if you will.  How about this: "He's deceptively strong." I think most would agree here that it means the person being referred to is stronger than he appears. But then what about this: "He looks deceptively strong."  I realize also that I may be finicky or am talking here more about semantics than anything else, but I really would appreciate it if someone could set the record straight for me. It's something that's been bothering me for ages and I can never seem to find 100% clarity on the matter.  I can't seem to find an official definition on the web either for which way around it should be. The common opinion seems to be that you should infer its meaning from the context it's being used in, which is fair most of the time, but there have been cases that I've come across where it is used and I find myself wondering which way around the person using it, meant it.  Any  help?
50760
What would be a nice short expression to describe a choice which isn't really one, in that all of its possible outcomes are ultimately equivalent despite being presented as different?  My first thought was "false choice", but this turns out to have a different meaning, and my next idea was "empty choice" which doesn't seem to exist. Does anyone know of such an expression?
54143
I am looking for a word to let others understand that somebody is a person who does exactly the opposite of what he speaks. Is there any word for this?
60607
This has cropped up several times in the past couple of months, and I've been struggling to find  a fitting word to describe this phenomenon. I'll describe it:  You have two choices(no, it's not Hobson's choice). Both of them are desirable, yet both of them each have a tiny part which is most undesirable, such as a tough condition, or a demanding clause. You have difficulty deciding which one to pick.  Whenever something like that comes up, I think of the expression "Can't burn a candle at both ends", but I'm not looking for that.  I'm looking for an expression that describes a difficult choice. Any suggestions?  EDIT: It's idiomatic. I'm quite sure it is. It's an expression of some sort. And no, it isn't "dilemma"
29241
I was reading definition/meaning of the word "perverse" in , came across :     showing deliberate determination to behave in a way that most people think is wrong, unacceptable or unreasonable   Shouldn't it be :     showing deliberate determination to behave in a way that most people think it is wrong, unacceptable or unreasonable
54019
Is there a word in English connected to a process resulting in not just an unexpected outcome, but the direct opposite of its intended effect? Like feeling more tired after waking up? Or feeling dirtier after washing your hands (because the bathroom isn't clean)?  Example Sentence:     "I got 8 hours of sleep but I'm more tired than when I went to sleep.   That's so _____."
46214
Sometimes (well, often) people pretend not to understand what's going on (or pretend not to understand what the other person means, etc.) when in fact they do perfectly well.   For example, Person A is hoping that his friend Person B would let him crash at his place for a couple of days, but, so as not to appear too intrusive, he wants Person B to invite him instead of asking directly. So, he says to his friend:     Hey, Person B! I've just been kicked out of my house and I have nowhere to go. I really have to figure out where to stay the next couple of days.    Person B understands that Person A is hoping that he would offer him to stay at his place. But he chooses to pretend not to understand, and, instead of saying sorry and explaining why Person A cannot stay at his place, person B says:     There's a nice hotel near here, and it's not very expensive. I can give you the address.   Another example. Person B has secretly stolen the wallet of Person A. Person A has figured out that it was person B and when they meet, he says:     My wallet was stolen the other day.   Person B says:     Really? Oh, that's so unfortunate!    What idioms in English would one use to describe the behavior of Person B in the sample situations? I.e. pretending to be stupid or pretending not to understand something rather obvious, or pretending not to know something that you know; in other words, consciously imitating ignorance, indifference, or innocence.  In Russian, the idiom is to pretend to be a fire hose (прикидываться шлангом) or to pretend to be a boot (прикидываться валенком). The Armenian idiom is to pretend to be a donkey (իրեն էշի տեղ դնել). For me, these phrases are not quite unimaginative and cause a certain amount of amusement. I am hoping to find an English equivalent (or equivalents) that would be informal and/or sound funny(-ish), but that's not essential.  Naturally, I tried to look up the translation in the dictionary before asking, but to no avail, presumably because the phrases mentioned above are rather informal.
49619
Is there any word to describe the fear of unknown future? Like when you cannot anticipate your future, you don't know what will happen or what can happen, not near or immediate future, but some future far away.  Like what will happen five years from now? You can't control it so you're fearful.
98453
I'm wondering if there's a word, phrase, or idiom to describe the action of deliberately confusing people by using complex sentences. For example, some politicians will throw out some big words and fancy sentences to confuse people what he or she really mean.  In Chinese, we say that the politician is "玩文字遊戲". Direct translation would be "playing a word game". And some English-Chinese dictionaries' suggest "play on word", "play with words", "word play", and "paronomasia". However, upon further researching by Googling, I don't think any of these is correct.
60975
Imagine a scenario where Jim provides a piece of information to Sue. Jim believes this information to be true and correct, but is later proven to be mistaken. Some might say that Jim lied to Sue. I believe this to be the wrong word, because the misinformation was unintentional.  Is there a better word for this type of unintentional "lie"?
103145
What one phrase or idiom describes situations (see examples below), in which people funnel their efforts in the wrong direction?       A boy wants to have a cup of coffee, so he buys a notebook in a stationery store and starts writing 100 times on each page "A cup of coffee", hoping that he is going to get a cup of coffee in this way. However, he never bothers to go to the kitchen and see if he can simply prepare coffee for himself in the kitchen...        A band is going to have a concert tomorrow, but they are not ready yet – they still need to rehearse more. So, instead of rehearsing they simply try to re-arrange the chairs on which they are sitting, hoping that the proper arrangement of chairs will ensure their perfect performance on the next day.        A girl wants to learn how to swim. So she reads tons of books about swimming – how to build  swimming pools, biographies of famous swimmers – yet she never even tries swimming by herself...
104472
What is the English term for when someone thinks they are doing something nice for you but it ends up making things worse. EX: Someone buys you an elephant -- nice gesture and cool! But now you have to take care of it, and it becomes a burden on you.
7549
Some examples:   Instead of admitting that I'm an alcoholic, I just say I had one too many drinks. Instead of the bank admitting that it has lots of loans that are in arrears and are likely to default, it only says that it has underperforming loans. Instead of admitting that they overeat, they simply claim that they have a strong appetite.    Basically, I'm after a word for when a phrase is used that is not really a lie, but doesn't give the whole truth to make it sound more positive than it actually is. Usually when something should be dealt with, but it's kind of swept under the carpet by the misleading phrase.