The structure is a hint as well, the punctuation is irrelevant in that sense.
tap
a
cabalistical
sum;
counterdemonstrations,
fabrications,
I
antienthusiastically
circumstantiate
unexceptionability
What am I?
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1 Answer
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4
You are a:
CALCULATOR
While the text may be a disguised description of your functionality, the real clue here is that:
the number of letters in each word are 3-1-12-3-21-12-1-20-15-18, which when converted to letters via A1Z26 spells out CALCULATOR!
To attempt to decode the apparent mysticism of the text...
tap a cabalistical sum
'Cabalistical' implies 'secretive or mysterious'. These words describe the act of pressing buttons to find the answer to an unknown ('mysterious') sum.
counterdemonstrations, fabrications, I antienthusiastically circumstantiate unexceptionability
These words suggest that a calculator simply (with nothing extraneous merely for show, i.e. 'antienthusiastically') always generates the correct answers without exception. The use of 'counterdemonstrations' and 'fabrications' may be obfuscated ways of referring to 'subtraction' and 'multiplication', respectively - since, after all, a calculator performs calculations other than merely addition...
PS The OP explained their true intentions of the meaning of the phrase in comments below:
It really boils down to, "You can't fool a calculator." You can type whatever twisted stream of digits and symbols you can think up - cabalistical sums, counterdemonstrations, fabrications - but still it will perform its pre-programmed operations systematically, unemotionally, and without deviating from its rules (i.e. it will antienthusiastically circumstantiate unexceptionability).
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$\begingroup$ Not exactly what I was going for with the meaning of the words, but obviously, yes that's the right word. I'll have to leave off the structure is a clue initially next time, or at least convolute the translation beyond simple A1Z26. Nicely done. $\endgroup$– TCooperAug 31, 2020 at 20:10
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$\begingroup$ Re: meaning of words; the intent was no matter what tricks you attempt, fictitious math you come up with, etc the calculator always and simply does it's job of providing a known answer to the provided input. But it's not exactly easy to come up with 12-21 letter words that fit fluidly, so the meanings had to stretch a bit. i.e. I would've rather not used counterdemonstrations, but again, 21 letters is hard to deal with. I might even like your interpretation more than my intended - just noting $\endgroup$– TCooperAug 31, 2020 at 20:15
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$\begingroup$ @TCooper Ah, I see. I'll mention your intentions in the answer - it was hard to work out the precise meaning from words so unusual! $\endgroup$– StivSep 1, 2020 at 7:36
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$\begingroup$ I can see why, sometimes I pick something around me, pick some random rules, and then force a puzzle out of it - some turn out better than others. $\endgroup$– TCooperSep 1, 2020 at 16:03