Talk:smack of

Negative
Is this chiefly used with negative comparisons ("smacks of corruption/dishonesty/etc") ? If yes, perhaps this should this be noted? – Jberkel 08:27, 5 November 2020 (UTC)

RFD discussion: July–August 2021
Redirect to (with senseid to etymology 1, verb, sense 2: "To indicate or suggest something; used with of"), and move the content there. PUC – 21:17, 4 July 2021 (UTC)


 * No, keep as is. It's a distinct term, and I just added a quote to it. And I'm not keen on redirects anyway... DonnanZ (talk) 22:00, 4 July 2021 (UTC)
 * How is it a distinct term? Do you propose deleting sense 2 at ? PUC – 22:07, 4 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Both senses 2 & 3 use "of", which is reflected in the excerpt below (from Lexico). I suggest a "redirect" the other way round for those two senses, transferring some material, e.g. "see ".


 * smack of
 * 1Have a flavour of; taste of.
 * ‘the tea smacked strongly of tannin’
 * 1.1Suggest the presence or effects of (something wrong or unpleasant)
 * ‘the whole thing smacks of a cover-up’


 * DonnanZ (talk) 22:40, 4 July 2021 (UTC)


 * I see this as somewhat analogous to taste of or smell of. Usage other than with "of" seems much more restricted in the case of "smack", but nevertheless there are are uncommon instances of "smack like", e.g. "It smacks like a novel, but it is all founded on truth", and other variants such as "That element of his case smacks similar to the lead female character in Accent on Horror". Therefore delete/redirect, and change the labelling at smack to "normally with 'of'" or similar. Mihia (talk) 09:14, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree with you, delete/redirect smack of. The other issue is that for the smack entry, the verb sense of ‘to strike a child on the buttocks’ is labelled as ‘New Zealand’ but this sense is widely used in the U.K and probably in most of the Commonwealth and ROI too. I suggest changing this label and the related one on ‘spank’ to ‘outside of North America’ and ‘North America’ respectively; or simply get rid of them, as it’s far from unheard of for Britons to say ‘spank’ and Americans to say ‘smack’ in this context, though there is a statistical difference in use Overlordnat1 (talk) 10:03, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
 * You can also smack a child on the hand as a form of discipline, and as a child in NZ I had plenty of those, I guess. I was also caned at school (on the bum); it never did any harm, and it was accepted philosophically. There were some cane-happy teachers in those days; see . However, I still disagree with you re delete/redirect. DonnanZ (talk) 11:58, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I can’t say I’ve experienced the dubious delights of the cane but I’d say that a smack on the hand comes under etymology 3 verb sense 1. I’ve generalised the usage notes for the ‘spank’ sense of ‘smack’ slightly. Also, I can’t see how ‘smack of’ can’t be understood simply as ‘smack + of’ Overlordnat1 (talk) 18:20, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Having (and keeping) this entry makes sense to me, like it did to Dvortygirl in 2005. DonnanZ (talk) 23:27, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Delete. Imetsia (talk) 15:50, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Delete; do not redirect, as there are many verbs that are used with of:, etc. are all non-redirect redlinks. (The one deleting the page would have to shift the quotes.)  ·~   dictátor · mundꟾ  22:48, 4 August 2021 (UTC)
 * RFD-deleted. Imetsia (talk) 17:28, 8 August 2021 (UTC)
 * : Deleting an entry you voted "delete" on is hardly impartial. DonnanZ (talk) 18:36, 8 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Deleting an entry on which 4/6 users voted to delete is completely fine, regardless of how I personally voted on it. Imetsia (talk) 21:03, 8 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Really. That's not how I see it. DonnanZ (talk) 09:10, 9 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Did you shift the quotes after deleting that page? ·~   dictátor · mundꟾ  12:55, 9 August 2021 (UTC)
 * See the above nomination (‘hack writer’) in which Imetsia voted keep but themself RFD-deleted it. ·~   dictátor · mundꟾ  12:55, 9 August 2021 (UTC)
 * A good point. I think I added a quote to the deleted entry. Why waste my time taken in adding it, only for it to be deleted? DonnanZ (talk) 13:46, 9 August 2021 (UTC)