Seizan
 
Reply Sun 20 Oct, 2024 10:19 pm
There is a term that applies to a person who plays both sides off against each other, intending the mutual destruction of both sides. Sometimes it's for revenge, sometimes it's just for the pleasure of seeing the resulting chaos.

This is a common theme in espionage (and romance) movies and novels. But two-timer and double-agent just don't seem to fit. It's a more accurate and sort of technical literary term that describes such a person.
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Type: Question • Score: 9 • Views: 399 • Replies: 18
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roger
 
  1  
Reply Mon 21 Oct, 2024 02:56 am
@Seizan,
I'm sorry you said 'two timer' doesn't seem right. That was my first thought.
Region Philbis
 
  1  
Reply Mon 21 Oct, 2024 03:17 am
@Seizan,

double-crosser?

back-stabber?
0 Replies
 
steve reid
 
  1  
Reply Mon 21 Oct, 2024 03:48 am
@roger,
triangulator

manipulator
0 Replies
 
izzythepush
 
  1  
Reply Mon 21 Oct, 2024 05:08 am
@Seizan,
Schemer?
0 Replies
 
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Mon 21 Oct, 2024 06:04 am
Shyster

Trump
0 Replies
 
bobsal u1553115
 
  1  
Reply Mon 21 Oct, 2024 09:19 am
Tummler. Yiddish is a rich language.
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Oct, 2024 07:45 am
@bobsal u1553115,
Not exactly. The actual translation for tummler is the person who warms up the crowd before the main act comes out…sort of like the master of ceremonies. Circus barker or even agitator is another way of looking at it but he/she does not engage n playing one side against the other.

Back to the OP, it could be the most extreme case of a Devils’s advocate.
Ticomaya
 
  2  
Reply Wed 23 Oct, 2024 03:40 pm
Provocateur?
bobsal u1553115
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Oct, 2024 04:18 pm
@Ragman,
One definition, also and incompetent minion. Basically a borderline incompetent used to fill multiple slots in the herding of visitors in a borsht belt resort.

Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Oct, 2024 05:36 pm
@bobsal u1553115,
Respectfully, I disagree. The meaning indicates more of a cheerleader or warmup for the acts…not an incompetent at all..just not a mainliner talent…engaging in slapstick humor. Many future talents were tumblers. Perhaps, my memory serves me, Mel Brooks may have been one forahile.

However, back to the OP, it doesn’t fit [url]definitionwise[/url] into what he is asking.
Ragman
 
  0  
Reply Wed 23 Oct, 2024 06:09 pm
@Ragman,
Spellcheck took over: tummeler
Ragman
 
  0  
Reply Wed 23 Oct, 2024 06:10 pm
@Ragman,
Ragman wrote:

Spellcheck took over: tummeler


Yes, I was correct. Brooks was a tummeler at Grossingers.
0 Replies
 
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Oct, 2024 06:26 pm
@Ragman,

Spellcheck took over: tummeler

Yes, I was correct. Brooks was a tummeler at Grossingers. As was Carl Reiner.
0 Replies
 
Ragman
 
  2  
Reply Wed 23 Oct, 2024 06:40 pm
@Ticomaya,
Yes, that’s it. Agent provocateur meets the criteria .
Seizan
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Oct, 2024 07:26 pm
@Ragman,
Thanks everyone. Provocateur seems closest, but not on the mark. A provocateur doesn't always set one group against another for their mutual destruction.

There was a Japanese movie staring Mifune Toshiro, in which he played a ronin (masterless samurai) who joined two opposing gangs, each thinking he was a double-agent working on their own behalf, and he expertly set both sides against each other. This led to an all-out gang war, during which he mostly just sat by and watch both sides annihilate each other. He did some fighting but mostly, the gangs accomplished the desired action of killing each other off, leaving the town free of both gangs of ruthless criminals. Mission accomplished, the ronin left town at the end of the movie. Much like a Clint Eastwood movie...

I'd like to know what the term is that applies to that kind of person. Sometimes he does this for a good or moral cause, sometimes he just wants to see destruction.
0 Replies
 
TheCobbler
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Oct, 2024 08:28 am
The word you are looking for is, "antagonist".
Mame
 
  2  
Reply Fri 25 Oct, 2024 09:02 am
@TheCobbler,
Yes, and I like 'instigator', as well, and Inciter and Agitator.
0 Replies
 
CalamityJane
 
  2  
Reply Fri 25 Oct, 2024 05:47 pm
two-faced, or deceitful. Personally, I love backstabber!
0 Replies
 
 

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