Big words

[yellowfin43]

After reading some of these posts I have come to the conclusion that some of you revel in the use of big, long and uncommon words. Is that impressive to some people or just yourselves. To me, that's like dropping a penny on your left side and turning right, walking all the way around the block and back just to pick it up. It's a waste of grammar. It's like a good musician. He could wail away at every song to draw attention to himself but instead he holds back and just adds feeling to a song. He is so good he doesn't need to show off. Just an observation.

[Dingfod]

Elucidate, please?

[Dingfod]

I extirpate me.

[yellowfin43]

I would but I am experiencing hyperemesis from these posts.

[Farren]

There are a lot of other reasons to use long or uncommon words. Accuracy is one. Some of us think the distinction between speed and velocity, or succinctness and conciseness, is important.

Another good reason is parsimony. Sometimes its a choice between a long word and an even longer sentence. For instance instead of writing "another good reason is parsimony" I could have written "another good reason is using less words to say the same thing".

Rather than rail against it you should welcome the opportunity to expand your lexicon ;)

[Dingfod]

:yeahthat:

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a big word is sometimes worth dozens of smaller words. But, in your defense, sometimes big words are just floccinaucinihilipilification and disproportionalableness.

[Dingfod]

I would but I am experiencing hyperemesis from these posts.I hear that a spoonful of C12H22O11 is helpful to quell the biliousness.

[livius drusus]

Oh lawds, not this old chestnut again. Why do you immediately leap to some pejorative conclusion, like that folks are trying to show off? People have different vocabularies learned from different environments. Why not just take it at face value, look up what you don't know and engage the subject? Or don't engage, for that matter.

[Dingfod]

Consider your time at :ff: a learning experience. I know I have.

[yellowfin43]

I guess I just have a thing about people who crave attention for any reason but then again, here I am on this site writing a post to see what kind of attention I can get. Ironic ain't it.

[livius drusus]

Again, why do you assume uncommon word usage is an attention-getting device? That's a pretty big leap based on zero evidence. Don't you think it's possible that people can use the words they use just as reflexively as you use the words you use, no matter how many syllables are involved?

[Farren]

Its probably just what yellowfin's been exposed to previously Liv. That's where all of our assumptions come from. Yellowfin, there are a lot of people who post here with a background in the arts, social sciences or technical fields. An arts background is often, unsurprisingly, accompanied by a love of language in all its diversity and the delight that can be had from playing with sound and meaning. And scientific and technical people are accustomed to making fine distinctions between technical terms.

[livius drusus]

It might be what he's been exposed to, or it might be something he's assumed from faulty premises. He could have seen someone's use of uncommon words as a judgment on his lack of them, for instance, and now consistently projects the same "what do you think you're better than me?!" belligerence whenever he encounters people using those words, even when they're not actually talking to him.

[viscousmemories]

Is that impressive to some people or just yourselves.
It is just as easy (and as likely to be false) to conclude that people who object to others using big words do so because they are insecure about the size of their ... own vocabulary. I've been accused of speaking snobbishly since elementary school simply because of the language I learned from my parents and siblings, but in every other respect my upbringing was about as "white trash" as they come. Life is such.

[The Lone Ranger]

Speaking for myself, I'm a scientist and an educator. In my fields, accuracy and precision are everything. In order communicate precisely what is intended, a polysyllabic word or two is sometimes necessary.

[Dingfod]

Ironic ain't it.Not really. There is a big word for what it is, but I find it unnecessary to use when context should be sufficient.

[Dingfod]

Actually, on a more serious note, my everyday working vocabulary probably only consists of fewer than 300-350 words. I know the meaning and how to spell many times that many, but don't use them except on special occasions.

[JoeP]

some of you revel in the use of big, long and uncommon :bunnythrust:

the opportunity to expand your ;):bunnythrust:

because they are insecure about the size of their ... :bunnythrust:

Thanks for the set-up, yellowfin

[Kael]

I don't see why someone particularly knowledgeable about a particular language should feel obligated to tone down their speech, save in specific situations where what they're trying to communicate is not being understood. Even in those situations, though, why should the more knowledgeable speaker feel more pressure to simplify their speech than the less knowledgeable speaker feels to improve their own?

[Qingdai]

David Foster Wallace* and George Orwell** have both written good essays on the use of English language and social issues.
I wish people would read them.

*"Authority and American Usage"

**"Politics and English Usage"

[Tanda]

You'd be using your time more wisely trying to learn the meanings of all those big words than to complain about not understanding them. :shrug:

[Ensign Steve]

For a bunch of long-word-using motherfuckers, y'all sure are eager to take the bait.

It would have gotten simply :halftroll: based upon the playedoutness (that's a word!) of the premise and the half-hearted attempt to conjure up a decent OP, but based upon its success I'm upgrading it to :troll::troll::troll:. Well done, sir.

[ChuckF]

It's like a good musician. He could wail away at every song to draw attention to himself but instead he holds back and just adds feeling to a song. He is so good he doesn't need to show off.
Well I think that musician should go fuck himself.

[Farren]

stfu you. You're fulla excramentation.

[ChuckF]

no u

[Farren]

Cross post. It made me very cross.

[ChuckF]

Drink up.

[Naru]

After reading some of these posts I have come to the conclusion that some of you revel in the use of big, long and uncommon words. Is that impressive to some people or just yourselves. To me, that's like dropping a penny on your left side and turning right, walking all the way around the block and back just to pick it up. It's a waste of grammar. It's like a good musician. He could wail away at every song to draw attention to himself but instead he holds back and just adds feeling to a song. He is so good he doesn't need to show off. Just an observation.

wat?

[erimir]

Some of us think the distinction between [...] succinctness and conciseness, is important.What is the difference?

I just looked them up, and the definitions seem almost identical, and in fact, "concise" is used in the definition of "succinct" and vice versa.

[Farren]

Jay-sus, did you have to drop that on me when I'm DRUNK?

Concise implies that trivial details have been shed in order to communicate the essentials, whereas succinct implies that all of the original information communicated has been preserved while being expressed in the most economical way.

[ChuckF]

I prefer concision over conciseness.

[Watser?]

Some of us think the distinction between [...] succinctness and conciseness, is important.What is the difference?

I just looked them up, and the definitions seem almost identical, and in fact, "concise" is used in the definition of "succinct" and vice versa.

I was wondering about that and looked it up too :giggles:

[yellowfin43]

Like the analogy I used earlier, it's simply overkill. There is a big difference between educated and intelligent. I know many educated morons and now I simply know a few more. I know what they are trying to say, it's just meaningles garble that sounds sophisticated but is actually.....well, just garble.

[ChuckF]

meh

[viscousmemories]

Ah, :asshat:.

Damn I hate when JD is right.

[Leesifer]

I only understood the last post - all them others had those big fancy words n shit.

ETA: And now velvetdoughnuts can jump in and explain why I've been refreshing the page but am 10 minutes behind everybody else.

[Dingfod]

Like the analogy I used earlier, it's simply overkill. There is a big difference between educated and intelligent. I know many educated morons and now I simply know a few more. I know what they are trying to say, it's just meaningles garble that sounds sophisticated but is actually.....well, just garble.Hey, I'm not educated.

[Tanda]

I don't think he was talking to you.
:psst:

[Ensign Steve]

Ah, :asshat:.

Damn I hate when JD is right.

Fortunately for us all it doesn't happen very often.

[Dingfod]

I don't think he was talking to you.
:psst:Let me feign offense at what I want to feign offense at. :D

[Farren]

Like the analogy I used earlier, it's simply overkill. There is a big difference between educated and intelligent. I know many educated morons and now I simply know a few more. I know what they are trying to say, it's just meaningles garble that sounds sophisticated but is actually.....well, just garble.

"John Dryden

In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a sin;
When man on many multiplied his kind,
Ere one to one was cursedly confined;
When nature prompted and no law denied
Promiscuous use of concubine and bride;
Then Israel's monarch after Heaven's own heart,
His vigorous warmth did variously impart"


"ERE", "variously"? What bigheaded, snobbish manner and intent! The truth, yellowfin, is that, like Dryden many of us enjoy the intersection between sound and meaning. The play on words that demands the reader look twice to parse what's been put before them.

It is not snobbery but child-like delight. And instead of (correctly) parsing what you should see as joyous, child-like naivity you see it as faux-sophistication, but your eyes, and inner ears, deceive you. What you parse as a battle for superiority is simply a delight in the flexibity of our common tongue.

Where you see patterns of domination, there is really only intimacy and love. Embrace it, don't fight it.

[ChuckF]

Dryden sux, smart guy.

eta: eww that poem is dirty and sexy.

[Farren]

Dryden sux, smart guy.

eta: eww that poem is dirty and sexy.

Like you?

(ETA: don't stop sucking pls)

[Deadlokd]

I use dem big wurdz ere cause I'm surrounded by illiterate morons where I live. If I dropped a polysyllabic word around these parts I'd be tarred and feathers as a rectal prolapse faggot.

The 'net is one of the few places (the other being with my wife) I can exercise my vocabulary. And like all things, if you don't exercise it, you can lose it.

And if we're being trolled, well done sir.

[Watser?]

Polysillabic? You posh and ladeedah poofter! :mobber:

[Chris Porter]

I guess I just have a thing about people who crave attention for any reason but then again, here I am on this site writing a post to see what kind of attention I can get. Ironic ain't it.

It is. I've tested with a vocabulary about 4 times larger than normal, and that's not even trying. Some people; like me, prefer accuracy over common dialog, and so when it's appropriate, I use "big" words. But they are more accurate, as that's my preference. It's not so much showing off, as making myself comfortable at another's expense, I expect.

I could use "small" words, of course. But then I'd actually have to think about what I'm saying, rather than just gobbling off the top of my head. If my gobble is polysyllabic, so it goes.

[Pinecone]

I sometimes use garganchumongus words. Unfortunately they are only real words because I say so. :brooding:

[D. Scarlatti]

Wordy Rappinghood (http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=2487d08766)

[JamesBannon]

Alas, my vocabulary is not as good now as when I was younger. I seem to be losing my perspicacity. I think it might be because of the Internet, or my dotage!

[chunksmediocrites]

Like the analogy I used earlier, it's simply overkill. There is a big difference between educated and intelligent. I know many educated morons and now I simply know a few more. I know what they are trying to say, it's just meaningles garble that sounds sophisticated but is actually.....well, just garble.

I read your words. You use big words. I think you are a show off. Try to be more like music man. He makes good noise to make a good noise, not to be showy. I know what you try to say with your big words, but it is just noise to sound like big britches and comes out with not much sense.

You are funny. You come to new forum and then say how much you do not like it. Maybe soon you will have cries about how all the crying you do makes you tired.

Got to go. Aus-tra-lo-pith-e-cus come in time machine just now. She say I talk all fancy like I have all the honey ants but really just dried moths. But she say it in three short words. Oh and now monkey come out and throw poop at her! I clap hands.

[Tanda]

:giggles:

[Doctor X]

The knave's mooting unjustly floccinaucinihilipilificates the trenchancy of sesquipedalia.

In the rain.

--J.D.

[yellowfin43]

I was just posting an observation. I'm really not upset at all. In fact, since joining this forum I have learned how to use a dictionary quite handily and I've learned that many of you mispell and misuse words quite often. This is fun!

[Dingfod]

Misuse of words is my specialty. In fact, words are so abused by me they're afraid to report it.

Anyway, feel free to point out the misspelt and misused words, pedants, while not exactly lauded, are at least tolerated here.

[Megatron]

I use big words for the express purpose of misspelling and misusing them, and if you don't like it you can floccinaucinihilipilificate my antidisestablishment.

Also, :bunnythrust:

[Doctor X]

Just so long as you do not commit a homoeoteleuton, Megatron. It proves tediously taxing without true titulation that leads to titubation enough to create a coherent vorlage from your missives.

--J.D.

[JoeP]

Anyway, feel free to point out the misspelt and misused words, pedants, while not exactly lauded, are at least tolerated here.

Careful, Ding. While what you say is true, we don't want to go advertising the fact to pedants searching the net for places to spout forth their pedantry.

[Tanda]

I was just posting an observation. I'm really not upset at all. In fact, since joining this forum I have learned how to use a dictionary quite handily and I've learned that many of you mispell and misuse words quite often. This is fun!

:pat: Whatever makes you happy.

[Demimonde]

I think that you will discover that in this forum communication is not just a practice but an artform. We could just grunt at each other, but we appreciate communication that is more than informative and has some aesthetic appeal to it.

To that end, having a large vocabulary and some rhetorical skill, is like an artist having an extensive palette and a large collection of brushes at his disposal. Can a great artist make do with three primary colors and a stick? Of course, but his expressions benefit from having access to greater variety.

Another tool of communication that we have are the smilies. Most human emotions could indeed be expressed in a dozen or so, and that is fine for most message boards. Here we have over four thousand. This is just another palette from which we can work.

In fact, since joining this forum I have learned how to use a dictionary quite handily... This is fun!

You can always highlight the words as you come accross them in your dictionary. I found that to be quite fun too when I was twelve or so.

:hoot:

[yellowfin43]

When I turn twelve I will try that. Thanks.

[Dingfod]

That explains your desire to anally rape Miley Cyrus.

[Megatron]

We could just grunt at each other, but we appreciate communication that is more than informative and has some aesthetic appeal to it.

Well, shit... I guess I've been doing it wrong this whole time :sadnana:

[Clutch Munny]

I insist upon correct pelling above all. Those who mispell -- perhaps Adam's employers count? -- come in for harsh criticism indeed.

Also, those who use words I don't know, thus making me feel inadequate whether they are aware of my existence or not, are therefore morons.

[JoeP]

We could just grunt at each other, but we appreciate communication that is more than informative and has some aesthetic appeal to it.

Well, shit... I guess I've been doing it wrong this whole time :sadnana:

uh huh

[fragment]

We need a grunt button next to the thanks one.

[JoeP]

Grunt, from: JoeP (Today)

[viscousmemories]

tuna ern :halftroll:

[Adam]

:lol: @ "mispell"