"Edgy or Offensive"?

[BrightSky9]

I'm curious to know how these two words ended up describing one category. I just completed a puzzle that was pretty close to a "wow" for edgy & way far below offensive. (Previous solvers awarded it 10 stars for "edgy or offensive.")

[Barnabas]

I'm just guessing... but I think some solvers rate a quote as edgy or offensive just to push the buttons of other solvers. But as I reread your question, I see that I misunderstood it. So, back to the question... Notice it says edgy or offensive, and not edgy and offensive. Does that help?

[imported_Lurker]

I have also thought those were incompatible descriptions. Edgy usually refers to shock value, which is not necessarily offensive. It's just a new way of thinking about something. Would it help if we ignore the Edgy part and use the Clever rating for something surprising, and save the category for Offensive only?

[BrightSky9]

Well, Clever is actually "Clever or Witty," & I take those as near-synonyms, in contrast to "Edgy or Offensive." (The "or" doesn't help me much because they *are* lumped together.) I think Clever is the way to go; that's a good idea. And I may start labeling as Offensive all cryptograms containing "opportunity," "success," or - in any form - "great."

[imported_Lurker]

Hey, the word "success" has saved me more times than I can count! One of the easiest patterns to get on this site. "Opportunity" is pretty easy too, and gets you three vowels. What we need to do is start labeling quotes by difficult authors like Alexander Pope, Jerry Coleman, and Ben Franklin as offensive.

[montyb]

I use that category as a type of continuum rating. If I think a quote is edgy, I'll give it a rating less than 5. Greater than 5 means I found it offensive.

[BrightSky9]

That's interesting. We need an "infographic" laying out the rankings in this category & what we individually meant by them. Well, no, we don't actually need that.