Define "Entertaining"

[Sangwa]

Please do.

For me "entertaining" is something that, without adding to my responsibilities, is able to stimulate me to use either my physical or intellectual abilities in order to attain a short/mid term objective, always adjacent to a need to be distracted.

[Geoni]

This forum is entertaining.

[Sangwa]

That's not really defining a word, it's just using it. While it allows a person to infer the meaning of the word through the context of the sentence, it does not allow an analysis of the word and all its general appliances.

[Geoni]

That's not really defining a word, it's just using it. While it allows a person to infer the meaning of the word through the context of the sentence, it does not allow an analysis of the word and all its general appliances.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/entertaining I agree with these definitions.

[Sangwa]

–adjective
affording entertainment; amusing; diverting: We spent an entertaining evening at the theater.

Not much help there. Plus I asked you to define it, not to sit on your behind and steal someone else's idea.

[Geoni]

Oh gawd, I can't argue with you. I'll surrender and make my own definition: (I'll use the verb form)

Entertaining: To express yourself in hopes of humoring, gladdening, or arousing any other form of satisfaction in others.

Hmm, that wasn't so bad...gets my sleepy brain going...

[LigH]

There's not much more I could do than to agree, I suppose... I am not even a native english speaker, how could I surpass your definition? Mine could only be less defined.

Still I'll try:

Entertaining - to me - is any activity which makes me interested in, distracted from other things, and enjoying having witnessed it or even been part of it eventually. An important part of "entertaining" for me is not regretting it afterwards.

[Sangwa]

English isn't my native language either. I'm portuguese

And you both mentioned things I hadn't: entertainment being about expressing and requiring a clean memory of the whole deal. And it makes total sense, since laughter itself is a way of telling others we are glad and if you regret something than that something stopped being entertainment.

I think it's curious to see how the same word has different nuances depending on the person speaking about it. Observation depends on the eye of the beholder and expressing what we've learned provides more ground for observing, specially for social beings as ourselves.

So please. I ask others to indulge me.

[bloodedIrishman]

Sangwa, que honda cabriou? Eres un puto divertido. 

[khoridor]

Sangwa, que honda cabriou? Eres un puto divertido. 

He said Portuguese, not Japanese!

[verden]

Something that I do which is not related to work, which distracts me, and continues to keep me distracted.

[Sangwa]

I'm not Spanish either. Really Irishman! We Portuguese are sensible when it comes to being confused with the Spanish people. But thanks for the compliment part I understood.

Anyway, seems like distraction is a key word for most people. Doesn't that seem a bit dangerous? Conscience is about not being distracted.

[verden]

I'm not sure what conscience has to do with entertainment. Entertainment needs to be distracting, in that it distracts from the vicissitudes of everyday life. But your focus moves to the entertainment, if it is good entertainment, and it distracts you from what you normally are focusing on. But you are focusing on the entertainment at that point, rather than on something else. So it is a voluntary act of will. It is dangerous to focus on one thing when your attention should be elsewhere, but it is the responsibility of the entity, not the medium itself.

[Sangwa]

I usually perceive distraction as something that takes attention from an important object. Your point of view makes sense though. You are "consciously" focusing on giving yourself some slack.

However, there is entertainment that does not depend on distraction, isn't there? Imagine you like your job, for instance. If we were really conscious, wouldn't we choose that over something that simply distracts?

[Earowo]

Sangwa, que honda cabriou? Eres un puto divertido. 

Usually when people do this i just nod and pretend i know what they are talking about.