Eldraeic Phrase of the Day: Tramorán an-Enlét

tramorán an-enlét: (lit. “red gift”) Related in concept to the trafidúr an-enlét (“blue gift”), that social manipulation in which a gift that cannot be balanced by the recipient with an equal gift is used to create a favor-debt, the tramorán an-enlét is an attractive gift designed to cause harm by the nature of its recipient. It should be noted that a gift harmful in and of itself is nottramorán an-enlét; the essence of a red gift is that it could be used wisely and to beneficial effect, but the recipient is not one who will so use it.

Perhaps the best-known example of a tramorán an-enlét is the gift of fusion or orbital solar ergtechnology used to destabilize petroleum-dependent planetary economies, whose subsequent trajectory remains as predictable as it is clichéd.

 

8 thoughts on “Eldraeic Phrase of the Day: Tramorán an-Enlét

  1. Or any number of fairy tales where someone is given a magic gift with the stern warning NOT to misuse it; and of course they (or someone they know) misuses it.

  2. Presumably civilization-uplift consultants like Worlds’ Rim Development could help mitigate situations like the example given, assuming the leaders of those planetary societies are far-sighted enough to hire them.

  3. So would, say, (knowingly) buying a free drink for a recovering alcoholic to get them liquored up for a deal you know they wouldn’t take sober count in the small scale?

    (I’m guessing this also counts as the long-delayed answer to my “white elephant” query from ages ago.)

    • One could debate that, depending on where you sit on the ability of recovering alcoholics to use a drink in a wise and beneficial way, but it’s not really in the spirit of the concept.

      Also, that’s not a white elephant – a thing of great cost of ownership far exceeding its actual usefulness. You want tratracíör traäesfrú eshanat (“spun-sugar palace”).

      • I was thinking more along the connotation of “a gift given with the intent of ruining the recipient.”

        • Well, it’s not that either, strictly speaking, because this is a gift given to let the recipient ruin themselves through sufficient unwisdom. If it’s not possible for the recipient to act wisely with it and for this (positive change on the part of the recipient) to satisfy you as an alternative outcome, it’s not a tramorán an-enlét.

          • I do want to note that the two are not as mutually exclusive as you may be implying — but since the explanation of that relies on a little of the nitpickery you have professed to dislike, I’ll forbear from doing so except by express request.

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