Imitation of XXX is amusing. [orig. amausing]

[Silver]

Hi,


I know someone who uses every opportunity to imitate people. Last time, he imitated the leader of North Korea. And he made everyone laugh. He clapped ,smiled and spoke made hime look like the leader, etc. I want to say his imitation is very very good as a compliment.


Your imitation of Kim Jong un is amusing.


Thoughts:


I put the Chinese word which I want to use in an English-Chinese dictionary and I found “vivid, lifelike, graphic” etc. But I don’t think they are the words I’m looking for. Perhaps “amausing” here is enough. May I have your opinion. Can I say someone’s imitation is “amausing”?


Thanks a lot

 

[Linkway]

Imitation of XXX is amausing

Have a look in the Word Reference dictionary for "amusing" and separately for "amazing".

Both of them fit the context that you have given.

 

[Copyright]

Do you mean "amusing" or "amausing"? I'm not being snide – you've used it three times, so perhaps you think it's correct. If you've picked it up off Urban Dictionary, you'll see that amausing, as a cross between "amusing" and "amazing," was posted twice by the same mouse eight years ago and has received 1 up vote and 5 down votes. Forget it.

Simply put, "amusing" doesn't mean "very very good as a compliment." Indeed, it can mean just the opposite: amusing in the sense of mildly entertaining, but not really great.

 

[perpend]

I put the Chinese word which I want to use in an English-Chinese dictionary and I found “vivid, lifelike, graphic” etc. But I don’t think they are the words I’m looking for. Perhaps “amausing” here is enough. May I have your opinion. Can I say someone’s imitation is “amausing”?

I'd probably say "entertaining" or "realistic".

 

[Silver]

Thanks a lot. Link, Copy and PP. I did mean "amusing"; I wanted to say that his imitation is funny, and makes everyone laugh hence it's impressive. But I typed the word incorrectly. I was more often than not corrected by the automatic spelling of my typing but this time it didn't work.

My last question. I'd just use one of them. I wonder if "You imitation of xxx is entertaining/impressive/realistic. Are fine? I mean if "imitation of someone is xxx" is fine?

 

[Copyright]

The person you're complimenting is doing his or her best to imitate someone exactly, so the best compliment would address that, e.g. "Your imitation is perfect/great/very good." Beyond that, you can use any number of adjectives to compliment someone: fine, amusing, excellent, surprising, etc.

 

[natkretep]

Yes, if you're complimenting someone, you've got to use a strong term rather than a middling one like amusing. Otherwise, it'll sound as if you're damning them with faint praise, as they say. However, very amusing will work.

 

[Parla]

I agree that "amusing" is the wrong word to use if you think this fellow has done a superior imitation of Kim Jong Un; it's too weak a word. You want a more enthusiastic term. I'd use such an adjective as one of those suggested by Copyright: great, very good, perfect, excellent, perhaps hilarious.

 

[Silver]

Thanks a lot, I now got it!

 

[perpend]

The "un" is not capped, just like Silver wrote (just an aside): Kim Jong-un.

 

[Copyright]

There is apparently some latitude in the format. From Wikipedia: Kim Jong-un: born 8 January 1983; also romanized as Kim Jong-eun, Kim Jong Un or Kim Jung-eun is the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).