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Oxford Advanced English Learners’ Dictionary gives ‘wet blanket’ as a noun meaning;

A person who is 'not enthusiastic' about anything and who stops other people from enjoying themselves.

Is there a short word for a person who is 'too enthusiastic' to spare his or her fun in something (e.g. movie, detective story) with others and spoil their interest in it by revealing the ending of the story before others see the movie or read the novel?

JSBձոգչ
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Yoichi Oishi
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    Related: What is someone who leaks a surprise called? – Callithumpian Jan 10 '12 at 23:21
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    Most of your commentary around the question "is there a word for someone who gives away the end of a story" has little to do with the question. "wet blanket", "too enthusiastic": those are independent of "giving away the end of a story". Can you edit and specify what the necessary and unnecessary but likely features of the concept you are describing? – Mitch Jan 10 '12 at 23:24
  • @Callithumpian: I think your spoilsport and party pooper on that related question are potentially applicable here. But really I think this is a highly localised question if we're being asked for a word to describe someone who (non-maliciously, purely through unrestrained enthusiasm and lack of forethought) spoils others' enjoyment of forthcoming plot twists. Robusto has valiantly proposed "spoiler", but that word would almost never be applied to such a person in practice, I feel. And anything else would have much broader scope. – FumbleFingers Jan 11 '12 at 05:08
  • I understand you are looking for a noun, but I just thought I would mention what is typically said is: "Don't give it away!" It's not overly critical, but let's them know what the problem is. – Julia Jan 12 '12 at 03:49
  • @Mitch. My question is quite simple. My inference from OALED definition, A person who is unenthusiastic about a thing (movie, ditective story), therefore spoils others by discouraging them. = Wet blanket. Then, A person who is too enthusiastic about a thing (movie, ditective story), therefore spoils others by encouraging them (by telling the ending) = What? – Yoichi Oishi Jan 12 '12 at 09:18
  • That's not simple. There are two possible things: 'very enthusiastic' and 'one who gives away the ending'. Most spoilsports are not enthusiastic, and enthusiasm has very little to do with giving away a plot (though your example isn't farfetched). So your question first starts out talking about enthusiasm, then veers off into spoiling the ending. Which do you care about? (there's no word for both) – Mitch Jan 12 '12 at 12:19
  • @Mitch. I got it what you’re saying. Let me give you an example. A is unenthusiastic in that mystery. So he told his friend the story is trash, which discouraged the friend to read the mystery. B is so enthusiastic with that mystery that he was about to tell his friend about the attraction of the switcheroo at the ending of story. His friend said “Don’t tell me the ending! It kills my interest in relishing the story.” The first case obviously has nothing to do with ‘telling ending,’ but the second does. “Enthusiastic” can be rephrased as “too excited.” – Yoichi Oishi Jan 12 '12 at 23:26
  • The second case happened to me quite recently when I was talking about how I was excited to read Somerset Maugham’s short story, “A Friend in Need” that features Yokohama Grand Hotel as the stage of story and its thrilling ending line to my friend. He said, “Don’t tell me the ending to kill my interest!” – Yoichi Oishi Jan 12 '12 at 23:46

3 Answers3

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I think you would just call that person a spoiler.

spoiler |ˈspoilər|
noun
1 a person or thing that spoils something.
• (esp. in a political context) a person who obstructs or prevents an opponent's success while having no chance of winning a contest themselves.
• a description of an important plot development in a television show, movie, etc., before it is shown to the public.
• a news story published to divert attention from and reduce the impact of a similar item published elsewhere.
[NOAD]

The term refers both to the act of spoiling and the person who does the spoiling.

Robusto
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    Robusto-san. The second item of the given definition appears to me to exactly fit the character I’m looking for, aside the matter of ‘enthusiastic-ness’. – Yoichi Oishi Jan 10 '12 at 23:32
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As @Robusto says, there is spoiler, which superficially looks like it should fit the bill. But I must I admit if someone started talking loudly about the plot twists of the film we're all queuing for at the cinema, I wouldn't be expecting to hear cries of "Be quiet, you spoiler!"

In practice, more likely epithets would be blabbermouth, bigmouth, blabber, blabberer, chatterbox, loudmouth, motormouth, squealer, telltale, tattletale.

My personal choice would be ratfink - rat and fink can both be used of a person who betrays secrets, and are both pejorative - the more so when used in combination, I feel.

FumbleFingers
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    I agree that spoiler is not commonly used for a person. I would expect cries of: "Sssh! No spoilers!!" Ratfink has a much more negative connotation in my experience, out of proportion for a movie spoiler :) – Lynn Jan 10 '12 at 23:14
  • @Lynn: Perhaps you're just more tolerant than me. I'd be looking for the absolute maximum negative connotations short of me actually swearing in public! – FumbleFingers Jan 10 '12 at 23:33
  • @Fumble Fingers. I appreciate your continual help. Doesn’t ‘ratfink’ give a disgusting ‘crafty cuss’ image when we are looking for a good-will ‘spoiler’ (per the given answer), whose motif can be all good-hearted, but too eager (enthusiastic) to push his joy / excitement to others? – Yoichi Oishi Jan 10 '12 at 23:51
  • @FumbleFingures Ditto. – Phonics The Hedgehog Jan 11 '12 at 01:16
  • @Yoichi Oishi: I understand the good-natured "Curb your garrulous enthusiasm so we can all enjoy the suspense of the actual movie!" meaning you're getting at, but frankly I don't think many people would even stop to think that in the relevant context. Certainly there's little chance that English speakers at large would so often want to convey the idea that we'd have a stock word or phrase for it (which may well reflect a relevant difference in Anglophonic/Japanese cultural attitudes, of course! :) – FumbleFingers Jan 11 '12 at 02:05
  • Agree - there's no stock phrase for a good-willed spoiler. "Spoil" is the verb for the action. "Spoiler" is usually the content of the movie being spoiled. It could fit for the person doing the spoiling, though I've never heard it used as such. And then it boils down to how tolerant you are in receiving the spoiler, as FumbleFingers pointed out :) – Lynn Jan 11 '12 at 16:24
  • @FumbleFingers. Referring to my answer to Mitch’s comment, this question was initiated from my recent experience: I strongly recommended my friend to read Somerset Maugham’s ‘A Friend in Need,’ because it’s very short and easy to read, and sold the attraction of the unexpected switch of the story at the end. Before I was about to introduce the last line, “Well I hadn’t got a vacancy (of the victim) in my office at that moment,” my friend cut my word, and said, “Don’t tell me that ending. If you do, it kills my interest in the story.” – Yoichi Oishi Jan 13 '12 at 01:55
  • @Yoichi: Ah! So in fact you were the potential "spoilsport"! That explains why you didn't want a negative word! (I didn't mean to call you a "ratfink" :) – FumbleFingers Jan 13 '12 at 17:19
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Besides previous answers, consider

  • kibitzer, "A person who offers unsolicited views, advice, or criticism"
  • meddler, "One who meddles or interferes in something not of their concern", a busybody
James Waldby - jwpat7
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