#11  
Old June 11, 2012, 06:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Perikles View Post
I didn't really think that mellow was much like almibarado, to be honest, because mellow (I think) is predominantly a positive quality. In fact, I can't think of a pejorative example. [...]
Thank you, Perikles.
I deal much with people who write in English, but whose first language is not English, so perhaps I learnt it from a wrong interpretation of the word and inherited the vice without checking first. Now I know better.
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  #12  
Old June 12, 2012, 08:36 AM
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Hello

Almíbar ( for those who don't know ) is a saturated dissolution of water and sugar , use as a preservative for some canned fruits and stuff.

So , " Almibarado " is something that has been covered by or inmersed in "almíbar"

For example , "Melocotón en almíbar ligero"

Now , keep in mind that those movie critics may contain words that :

1) ..are invented by the author
2) ...son pedantes
3) are used in an abstract way.

May happen the same to some song's lyrics , where words doesn't always make sense.

If I'd read that sentence or heard "almibarado" on such speech , there would be one hundred possible meanings , but always think of "deliverately sweetened"

Hope this helps
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  #13  
Old June 12, 2012, 02:16 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poli View Post
The word is jejune, but I would bet that maybe 1% of all English speakers know the term. Vapid is a related word that nobody uses.

If it's the character, you may say he's shallow or one dimentional.

If it's the writer's fault you may say he is not fleshed-out enough.

The movie is pure fantasy. Everyone in it is kind of plastic, but in a genial way. Betty Grable didn't have much of a dark side either.

PS Quicksilver is another word for mercury. The adjective mercurial discribes some difficult personality traits.
Thank you for those interesting options. Certainly this thread is making my vocabulary wider.
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Old June 12, 2012, 02:52 PM
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I think JPablo's suggestion of corny is the best one so far.
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Old June 12, 2012, 05:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by powerchisper View Post
Hello

Almíbar ( for those who don't know ) is a saturated dissolution of water and sugar , used as a preservative for some canned fruits and stuff.

So , " Almibarado " is something that has been covered by or inmersed in "almíbar"
...
In English the result of dissolving a solute in a solvent is a solution. The words "dissolute" and "dissolution" have different meanings.
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Old June 12, 2012, 06:04 PM
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Oye English speakers, doesn't the word corny impy hickish to you? Don Ameche doesn't seem paleto to me at all. De hecho su imagen es mondano. En la película, habla por lo meno dos idiomas sin accento ridículo, se viste bien, canta casi opera ...y en su pelo brillante quizás se se puede usarlo como un espejo.
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  #17  
Old June 12, 2012, 06:35 PM
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2. Informal
a. old-fashioned, trite, or lacking in subtlety: corny jokes.
b. mawkishly sentimental: a corny soap opera.


stale, banal, ordinary, overused, overdone, hackneyed
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Old June 12, 2012, 08:38 PM
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Vapid is not a particularly rare word, in my opinion. Treacle, on the other hand, wow, I would have wagered $100 it wasn't even a word. Never once heard it, I'd be surprised if even 1 in 10,000 native English speakers had ever encountered it.
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Old June 12, 2012, 11:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BenCondor View Post
Vapid is not a particularly rare word, in my opinion. Treacle, on the other hand, wow, I would have wagered $100 it wasn't even a word. Never once heard it, I'd be surprised if even 1 in 10,000 native English speakers had ever encountered it.
That is a really odd statement. I'm English, and I bet that every single English person I have met knows the words treacle and treacly. Both the COCA and BNC have plenty of examples, though treacly is not so common.
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Old June 13, 2012, 03:48 AM
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If you don't mind, poli

Quote:
Originally Posted by poli View Post
Oigan/Oíd English speakers, doesn't the word corny imply hickish to you? Don Ameche doesn't seem paleto to me at all. De hecho su imagen es mundana. En la película, habla por lo meno dos idiomas sin accento ridículo, se viste bien, canta casi opera ...y en su pelo brillante quizás se puede usarlo como un espejo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
2. Informal
a. old-fashioned, trite, or lacking in subtlety: corny jokes.
b. mawkishly sentimental: a corny soap opera.


stale, banal, ordinary, overused, overdone, hackneyed
This is a word I learnt in context and I'm now surprised by the divergent meanings and translations offered by dictionaries that I've just read.

To me it may mean, depending on context:
  • sensiblero, populachero, chabacano (esto último, cuando es abusivo)
  • primario, poco sutil, efectista (esto último, cuando se usa en gran escala)
  • banal, insustancial
  • trillado, cliché
What may be confusing about almibarado is the sweet component. If something is sweet, cloying, etc. we'd probably use meloso instead. Almibarado is sort of half way meloso, as the word is used in the sense of any tasteless or even rancid food probably being accepted by the herd if added some syrup or salt -or ketchup, I may add-. Ameche played the classy or mundane guy in the film as the 'lower orders' imagine being classy is, so a character lacking any depth, sketched with a thick paintbrush, is livened up by adding an eager smile and some jolliness. That's the act of almibarar that leaves us with something that looks almibarado.
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