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The Vocabulary Thread

Cimarron

IRL is not real
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When is word length excessive?

Tintinnabulation (noun) = The ringing of bells.

Sounds nice though. :wubbie:
 

Provoker

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I always loved/been a sponge for words. Here are some of my all time favorite words:

Apoplectic

Belligerent

Flabbergasted

Thwart

Suffice

Predicate

Tenuous

Dubious

Stint

Parenthetically

loathing

fester

feckless

nugatory

Corrigibility

Mushroom...as in, grassroots organizations mushroomed in the 1990s.

Balloon...as in, the perpetual printing of money caused the economy to balloon in the 1990s.

Proliferation

Desecrate

Sanguine

Afflict...as in, to be afflicted by poverty.

Ruminate

Contemplate

Interject

Interpose

Vilify

Memorabilia

Intellectualize

Intuit

Denigrate

Verbose

Sheepish

Plight
 

Amphion

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Obnubilate - Latin - "to obscure with clouds" - All this talk about health care reform obnubilates the fact that we're really talking about insurance reform.
 

Rachel

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I don't even know how to respond... I'm waiting for a moderator to swoop in and split this thread directly from (and including) post #2 into a new thread entitled "BIG WORDS: what are they good for?" <hint hint>... but I'll answer this in this way...


hubris...

supercilious(ness)...

arrogance...

haughtiness...

pride...

pompousness...

These words have similar denotations but occasionally slightly different connotations...

hubris - suggest impetus/initative/guts/gall - more willing or than most / more confident or determined than any other / sense of - willing to step out of the normal realm of expectations and go for it - say or do something unexpected or feared

supercilious - more subtle form of arrogance / impression of superiority in demeanor but implied rather than displayed outwardly

arrogance - an attitude/state of mind/quality or trait - overly confident in sense of rightness or correctness about a topic/person/issue

haughtiness - reaching high above everyone - placing self at utmost importance / associated with a sense of self importance usually based on privilege / appears or feels deserving of attention/favor because of privilege or self imposed feelings of deserved credit/entitlement

pride - belief in ability/competence and feeling good about this - demonstration in attitude or demeanor of belief in competence/accomplishment (can be negative or positive) / feeling positive about accomplishments or merits / sense of merit earned

pompousness - haughtiness to the next level. Obvious display of someone's sense of self importance / appears

:)
 

Stanton Moore

morose bourgeoisie
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Haptic: relating to or based on the sense of touch.

"The accident had left him without sensation below the middle of his chest, so he looked forward to his daughter's 4 o'clock visits, and the haptic euphoria that came with such a small thing as her kiss against his unshaven face."


 

swordpath

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It bugs me to use simple language, and I get really pissed off when I know there's a perfect word to describe what I want to say, but can't recall it. Biggest pet peeve.
 

mmhmm

meinmeinmein!
Joined
Jul 6, 2010
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this dude i know-- he thought i was into way big words.
and he'd read his little manuals to me, annunciating
on the penta-syllabic words....

i didn't have the heart to say 'not hot' since he still
needed to fix my computer.
 

Blank

.
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Growing up, I was constantly told by my peers to "stop using big words and shit," but I would then argue that vapid was only five letters.
 

ragashree

Reason vs Being
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Growing up, I was constantly told by my peers to "stop using big words and shit," but I would then argue that vapid was only five letters.

I hope you told them that their criticisms were vapid too. ;)
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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Growing up, I was constantly told by my peers to "stop using big words and shit," but I would then argue that vapid was only five letters.
So is banal, but philistine, alas, is ten.

My response to such exhortations was to tell said "peers" to expand their vocabulary, and to point out that I would not be using shit until gardening season.
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
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Haptic: relating to or based on the sense of touch.

"The accident had left him without sensation below the middle of his chest, so he looked forward to his daughter's 4 o'clock visits, and the haptic euphoria that came with such a small thing as her kiss against his unshaven face."



Makes sense, since the greek work for touch is αφή, which reads like "haphì". It's funny though that there's no such word in Italian, even if our language can be said to be more strongly intertwined with greek.
 

velocity

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help me with distinctions, lads and ladies:

cloying

sentimental

syrupy

mawkish

corny

sappy
 

sui generis

don't fence me in
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^^ Interesting! I think that "sentimental" is the most acceptable (to my T mind ;)) and the rest of those terms are almost interchangeable and kind of derogatory. They apply to the kind of sentimentality that's over-the-top and glurgy. I think of "cloying" as the worst, the kind of glurginess it's kind of painful to witness, and I have to admit I had to look up "mawkish" because I'd never heard it before. :huh:

Except, wait-- I wouldn't really lump "corny" in with the others, as I'm unlikely to apply it to sentimental things, more likely to apply it to jokes.

Would love to hear others' thoughts!
 

Mole

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Growing up, I was constantly told by my peers to "stop using big words,"...

Yes, I was told to stop using big words. At first I thought they were telling me not to be pretentious, but then I realised they didn't understand what I was saying, quite like here.

Big words are of course delicious, quite like riding a very large surf - sure you can get hurt, but what a wild view from the top of the wave before you plunge towards the shore.

Vocabulary is one measure of intelligence. But reading, "It Pays to Increase Your Word Power", in the Readers' Digest doesn't help at all. The best way is to read widely and deeply, as context is all.

I like to roll a big words around in my mouth, then roll them around in my mind - each new big word a delightful discovery and an act of disobedience.
 

htb

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Certain people react as if allergic to unfamiliar words, especially in writing -- responses ranging from pleas for simpler language to mockery -- and I've found it a lost cause to convince them that they make communication difficult. So I simply enjoy speaking with or writing to those for whom I don't have to omit vocabulary.

The unwisdom of rejecting fifty-cent words, though, is that a mot juste makes for a precise statement. I don't have to string phrases together or triangulate between neighboring adjectives; I say what I mean.
 
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