Better word for blackmail or extortion
A while ago I used the word blackmail in a situation, just to learn that the word didn't fit. I am left wondering whether there is a better choice. I probably have to explain the situation (I'll try to keep it short).
I was playing a board game online. At some point it was sure that I had won the game (and by that I don't mean that I had an edge but that I literally had won). Unfortunately this doesn't mean that the game ends immediately, but it goes on until some criterion is met which ends the game. Under normal circumstances this happens rather quickly but my opponent found a way to artificially prolong the game leaving me with two options:
a) I could accept a draw, even though I already had won.
b) I could continue playing, probably for hours, doing the same repetitive moves over and over just to collect the win eventually. Normally the game is quite casual and doesn't take longer than 15 minutes.
I said that he was "blackmailing" me. However he insisted that I was using the word wrongly, since it is biased to situations where monetary benefit is involved. As you can imagine there was a lot of tension already and the end of the story is not important, but I was left with the question whether there is a better word for this situation.
I discussed this question with some friends (including American, British and Australian native speakers) and all agreed that the word isn't really right, but that there is probably no better one. Extortion was another candidate but this word seems to be too harsh.
Any ideas?
Solution 1:
compelling - force somebody to do something
coercing - to cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means
Solution 2:
I know you already accepted an answer, but I thought of a couple of other words -- stymie (or styme) and stonewall -- that might be a good fit for this situation.
Stymie (as a noun) is defined as:
- a situation of obstruction
An obstacle or obstruction
(There's also this sports definition: A situation in golf in which an opponent's ball obstructs the line of play of one's own ball on the putting green.)
As a verb, stymie means to thwart or obstruct. You could say your opponent stymied your inevitable win.
Stonewall (as a verb) is defined as:
- To engage in delaying tactics; stall
- hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
- engage in delaying tactics or refuse to cooperate
- (There's also this sports definition: To play defensively rather than trying to score in cricket.)
You could say your opponent was stonewalling at the end of the game, or you could call him a stonewaller.
Solution 3:
Blackmail is not limited to monetary gains - any kind of profit in exchange for not fulfilling a threat is okay. Still, I don't think it applies here. It's more like coercion, where you're forced to back away under a threat.
On the other hand, at least in Chess, a situation where an opponent with massive advantage can be forced into a loop of moves that can be repeated indefinitely, and the one on losing position is unable to use the advantage to break the loop is a clear draw, and a frequent goal of players who lost much early on is exactly that, securing their position by disallowing the opponent to fulfill the winning condition.
Solution 4:
It seems easier to think of adjectives that describe his behavior, as opposed to verbs that describe his action.
I would say your opponent was being unsportsmanlike, unreasonable, petty, stubborn, headstrong, and obstinate.
If you must have a verb though, you could try:
He was holding me captive [to the anomaly of the situation].
Wordnik, in elaborating on the differences between prisoner and captive, notes:
The word captive suggests being completely in the power of another, whether confined or not; it has come to be a rhetorical word, suggesting helplessness and resulting unhappiness.