Illusive shadow tooltip text error

[tombom]

In the english version, there is an error with the illusive shadow tooltip text. The end reads

"do not udnerstand them or their genius"

when it should read

"do not understand them or their genius"

 

[unmerged(21937)]

Isn't there a Text file errors thread in the Scenarios subforum?

 

[Cagliostro]

It should be "elusive shadow", anyway.

 

[sirbruce]

No, illusive is correct. Elusive comes from elude and means hard to catch or define. Illusive comes from illusion and means deceptive, false, illusory, etc.

Bruce

 

[Cagliostro]

Yes, and a person is not illusive (deceptive, false, or illusory); they are elusive (difficult to pin down).

 

[sirbruce]

No, they are illusive. They are a spymaster. Look at the graphic; they can't be seen. They're an invisible shadow. Spymasters work in the background; they're not actually like 007 breaking into enemy castles and then escaping without getting caught.

Bruce

 

[Cagliostro]

Illusive does not mean invisible. If anything it means the reverse - producing a picture when nothing is there.

I didn't intend to suggest that they were James Bondish, rather that their shadowy web of intrigue eluded capture or pursuit.

In checking my dictionary, it lists "apparent" as a synonym for "illusive".

Elusive:
tending to elude: as
a: tending to evade grasp or pursuit
b: hard to comprehend or define
c: hard to isolate or identify

"Illusive" just is not a proper word for the concept of 'a shadowy figure who controls things behind the scenes'. I know that it is, indeed, a word; it's just not a correct one.

 

[Fredward]

Main Entry: il·lu·so·ry
Function: adjective
: based on or producing illusion : DECEPTIVE

Seems like an accurate description of a spy to me.

 

[Grosshaus]

Isn't there a Text file errors thread in the Scenarios subforum?

Seems to be......Moved

 

[sirbruce]

Sorry Cagliostro, but you're simply wrong.

Bruce

 

[Cagliostro]

Main Entry: il·lu·so·ry
Function: adjective
: based on or producing illusion : DECEPTIVE

Seems like an accurate description of a spy to me.

Except that it's not. You simply do not describe a person as illusory, unless you mean that they are not a real person. A person is not "based on" an illusion, and they do not in of themselves produce illusion as an element of their nature, unless their nature is itself false. Consider the google search on "illusory person". Consider also, from bartleby.com, the usage example:

“Secret activities offer presidents the alluring but often illusory promise that they can achieve foreign policy goals without the bothersome debate and open decision that are staples of democracy” (Tom Wicker).

Note also the listed entries under illusory in the thesaurus at m-w.com (the above-quoted source):

1 Synonyms
FICTITIOUS 1, chimerical, fanciful, fantastic, fictional, fictive, imaginary, suppositious, supposititious, unreal
Antonyms factual
2 Synonyms
APPARENT 2, Barmecidal, illusive, ostensible, seeming, semblant
Related Word chimerical, fanciful, fantastic, imaginary, unreal, visionary; deceptive, delusive, delusory, misleading
Contrasted Words actual, real, veritable; authentic, true, valid
Antonyms factual

Note in both senses the antonym listed is "factual", and in none of the listed synonyms would it be appropriate to list a spymaster in that vein (though I had to look up "barmecidal"). The related words do suggest that, but you can not have an "imaginary shadow" or an "ostensible shadow" without meaning something totally different - either 1) a shadow that does not exist, or 2) something which seems to be a shadow but is not.

Note that the thesaurus synonym entry for "illusive" is identical to sense 2, except that the positions of illusive and illusory are reversed.

In essence, illusive does not mean "something which causes illusions", but "something which is an illusion" or "something which appears to be something but is not". That is not appropriate with the noun "shadow" in the given context.

And Bruce, as a former copyeditor and professional wordsmith, I respectfully disagree.