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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?

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    Related: What is someone who leaks a surprise called?
    – Callithumpian
    Jan 10, 2012 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, 2012 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, 2012 at 5:08
  • 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, 2012 at 3:49
  • @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, 2012 at 9:18

3 Answers 3

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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.

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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, 2012 at 23:32
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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
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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.

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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, 2012 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, 2012 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, 2012 at 23:51
  • @FumbleFingures Ditto.
    – Phonics The Hedgehog
    Jan 11, 2012 at 1:16
  • @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, 2012 at 2:05

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