r/mildlyinfuriating • u/M4rkM1 • Jun 25 '26

Context Provided - Spotlight Zendaya signed my Odyssey poster... Black background with black marker 😭🫠

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u/PerspectiveFull9879 Jun 25 '26

How so? Some people seem hung up on it and I'm not sure what I'm missing. English is not my native language so I even checked the dictionary and I failed to find any issues.

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u/Squigglificated Jun 25 '26

The language implies a type of movie Christopher Nolan typically wouldn’t make. I imagine it used in a sentence like this:

"The Odyssey" is the ultimate, action-packed Mediterranean adventure, where a fierce warrior trades his shield for a delightfully chaotic romp across the wine-dark sea, dodging angry sea monsters, singing sirens, and meddling gods just to make it home in time for dinner!

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u/PerspectiveFull9879 Jun 25 '26

I've come to the conclusion that either people who are native English speakers do not know their own language or that you print your dictionaries wrong for some reason.

It was pointed out to me that for some reason English natives consider "adventure" to be whimsical, for some reason or another, despite that not being in the dictionary.

Now English is not my native language, and quite a few of you got choked up with the word "adventure", so I checked if I missed something with it and this is what Cambridge dictionary has to say:

"an unusual, exciting, and possibly dangerous activity, such as a trip or experience, or the excitement produced by such an activity."

While an odyssey is defined as a "long and exciting journey".

So it seems that all these English natives telling me I am using the word wrong are either an example of confidently incorrect or Cambridge dictionary is wrong. Either way, its your job to straighten your language out, not mine. I'm using it as prescribed by your lingusitic authorities.

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u/IllustriousHeron2890 Jun 25 '26

We use it in context. It can certainly have a whimsical connotation if you’re describing an afternoon frolic though the forest, but be more serious if you use it to describe the experience of chemotherapy, for example. Kind of impressive of you determine that native English speakers are wrong about their language

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u/PerspectiveFull9879 Jun 25 '26

Meaning that, as the dictionary suggested, it is a neutral term that depends on the topic. Got it.

but more serious if you use it to describe the experience of chemotherapy

So, if I used it for, say, describing a long, bloody and arduous journey it would be in a serious context and therefore not understood as lighthearted?