[TimG]

Do "empty threat", "hollow threat", and "idle threat" all mean the same thing?

Is there a term for a threat with consequences that would be beneficial (or neutral) to the one threatened?

[mgoetze]

I feel that an "empty threat" is one which, even if enacted, would hardly have consequences, a "hollow threat" is one which the person making the threat is incapable of following through on and an "idle threat" is one which the person making the threat doesn't fully intend to carry through.

[dwar0123]

 TimG, on 2013-January-14, 16:36, said:

Is there a term for a threat with consequences that would be beneficial (or neutral) to the one threatened?

Ironic threat?

[hrothgar]

All three expressions are (pretty much) synonymous.

Not sure if this is what you were thinking of, but on the beneficial front, the word "promise" comes to mind

[aguahombre]

Personal threats (forget computer threat issues), from the definitions I read, require perceived peril on the part of the person(s) threatened in order to be threats at all.

It appears irrelevant whether the threat can actually be carried out. Hollow, empty, and idle seem to apply to the ability or intent of the person attempting the threat only.

So, promise or pleasant prediction seems to fit ---even if the moron thought he was threatening us. All that aside, it is probably still illegal for someone to say they will kill my ex if I don't do what they want.

[WellSpyder]

 aguahombre, on 2013-January-14, 20:20, said:

All that aside, it is probably still illegal for someone to say they will kill my ex if I don't do what they want.

Reminds me of the Saki short story in which a woman disappears, and the disappearance is followed shortly afterwards by a note saying that unless a ransom is paid she will be returned alive and well to her family.....

[Vampyr]

 WellSpyder, on 2013-January-15, 03:26, said:

Reminds me of the Saki short story in which a woman disappears, and the disappearance is followed shortly afterwards by a note saying that unless a ransom is paid she will be returned alive and well to her family.....

Or O Henry's The Ransom of Red Chief.

[dwar0123]

 WellSpyder, on 2013-January-15, 03:26, said:

Reminds me of the Saki short story in which a woman disappears, and the disappearance is followed shortly afterwards by a note saying that unless a ransom is paid she will be returned alive and well to her family.....

Depending on the woman, maybe that was a genuine threat?

[WellSpyder]

 dwar0123, on 2013-January-15, 11:30, said:

Depending on the woman, maybe that was a genuine threat?

Exactly.

It's a very long time since I read the story, but as I recall it, the ransom was paid and nothing more was heard for a year, when another note arrived asking for a further contribution towards her board and lodging. The family continued to pay up for a further twenty years to ensure the benefits of a quiet life, until the woman was discovered wandering around having lost her memory and apparently never having been kidnapped at all...