Surprisingly, "system and method for automatic partitioning applied to network protocols" isn't very catchy

June 24, 2009 2:42 PM

Name-my-research-project-filter: Looking for a clever word or play on words that somehow evokes the idea of a friendly conversation between two people or a group. Sort of like "dialectic", but more cooperative and constructive. My brain is burnt out... vocabulary virtuosos, please hope me!
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl to writing & language (24 comments total)

Discourse?
posted by trox at 2:50 PM on June 24

It's hard to think of word play without being familiar with the research, but fun words that come to mind are pow-wow, brainstorm, and chit chat.
posted by lunalaguna at 2:52 PM on June 24

More "cooperative and constructive": colloquy, causerie

More "friendly": badinage, palaver
posted by Iridic at 2:52 PM on June 24

Engaging exchanges...
posted by torquemaniac at 2:53 PM on June 24

Colloquy.
posted by The World Famous at 2:57 PM on June 24

Interlocution
posted by kestrel251 at 3:01 PM on June 24

Palaver
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 3:01 PM on June 24

Not iChat, but weChat.

So-chat-tic method
posted by now i'm piste at 3:02 PM on June 24

co-lloquy
posted by now i'm piste at 3:09 PM on June 24

confab
posted by rhizome at 3:25 PM on June 24

Dialogue?
posted by padraigin at 3:39 PM on June 24

Great suggestions so far! I should also have said that it should be a relatively uncommon word. (otherwise I would be all for naming it "Thing" and being finished)

So-chat-tic method made me try to think of some way to combine Socrates with stochastic. Hmm...
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 3:43 PM on June 24

Collocution
I looked it up and it exists, but I neglected to copy links

or maybe interlocution
posted by mareli at 3:48 PM on June 24

interphrastiques
posted by mareli at 3:50 PM on June 24

Mondo - from the question and answer techniques between a Zen master and disciple.
posted by Abiezer at 4:03 PM on June 24

Huddle
Scrum
"calling an audible"
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:27 PM on June 24

How about 'klatch?' it's a little (ok, a lot) more friendly than intellectual, but it is pretty uncommon. Really out there would be 'coadjute' which thesaurus.com says is a word, but it's partner says isn't. However a 'coadjutor' is someone who works with another.

Sodality and Moiety are both uncommon synonyms for 'cliques.'

If you want more plays on words more than a vocab, maybe...

A cahoot

A covalent bond

Coopartition (bad pun based off your title, sorry, my well is apparently dry today, I usually have much better punmanship)

A Bicker? (a more friendly version of a dialetic, maybe)
posted by Caravantea at 4:37 PM on June 24

Banter.
posted by 4ster at 5:03 PM on June 24

"Rap session" or "rap". You can probably find lots of puns in there if you want to...
posted by aquafortis at 5:03 PM on June 24

roundtable
posted by cosmicbandito at 7:14 PM on June 24

Chautauqua
posted by flug at 8:10 PM on June 24

Salon.

Intercourse.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:12 PM on June 24

slogging
posted by bkeene12 at 8:34 PM on June 24

Could you live with a coined word? dieclectic? infinilectic? Sochastic?
posted by ambient2 at 10:29 PM on June 24