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Gary350
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BIG WORDS

My father-in-law who has been dead about 25 years once told me, The average person has a vocabulary of about 450 to 500 words. If I write my daily News Paper articles using 500 words it is easy reading and everyone reads my articles. If a person writes with big words it is like reading a foreign language an no one reads the articles.

There is a woman at church she talks with lots of big words & people start rolling their eyes and walk away. She is feeding her ego and I really don't think she cares people walk away, I think she likes it.

Last night on another forum someone did a post with many big words an there are no replies yet today. I have no clue what was said I'm not wasting my time looking up the definition of all those big words. An English Teacher would probably say that I am the problem for not improving my vocabulary and I would say, 99.8% of the population will have no clue what you said if you talk like that.

OH yes there is the new generation that talks with abbreviations every other word is another abbreviation. My Son says there is a standard list of online abbreviations everyone should use but the new generation makes up there own abbreviations and expects everyone to know what they said. LOL. I still think DH for dead husband is funny. LOL

I am on the Electronic Forum some guys talk with lots of abbreviations I don't know. Technology has come a long way since I was in college 45 years ago most of the new technology I don't know & don't need to know and I know non of the new abbreviations. This morning 1 of the guys got mad at me, DON'T YOU READ WHAT WE TYPE? I told him, if you speak English not abbreviations I would know what you said. We have to ignore him that is the way he is with everyone a grouch. LOL

My son will not answer the phone he only does text message. I send him messages like this. What u b up 2? I listen to foreigners talk they speak funny sounding English leaving out lots of helping words and using some of the wrong words. I have been having fun lately speaking like a foreigner. I not want that. Where you were? I no understand. LOL I love to hear my friend from Germany speak English it makes me laugh I always understand what he says, In the moment I am eating. LOL

I am glad this forum is easy reading I think most of us are real people.
Last edited by Gary350 on Thu Oct 31, 2019 4:40 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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TomatoNut95
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I know what you mean. Modern people these days are the 'Short N' Fast' generation and rely too much on technology. When I text I try not to abbreviate so much, and try to keep it punctual. Unless of course, I'm in a hurry. My BFF, who is a Mennonite, abbreviates in her texts something terrible (no offense to my BFF). She'll put 'idk' instead of 'I don't know', 'th' instead of 'the', 'ur' instead of 'your' or 'you're' and 'ppl' instead of 'people'. I just don't have the nerve to tell her to please spell stuff out. :oops: I know what 'FYI' means, which is 'for your information', but even so I'd rather spell stuff out and keep my grammar about me rather than abbreviate everything and be like everybody else.

It's my spelling that can embarrass me sometimes but hey, I'm the one who noticed the spelling boo-boo on my work company's Christmas cards. The cards arrived just the other day and we opened them to see how they looked. Three of us each had a card in our hands and I was the first and only to notice and point out that Merry was spelt Marry. Marry Christmas! :lol: So since it was the fault of whoever sent off for those to not notice the mistake before sending off for them, the company paid for more cards. If I ever lost money everytime I made a spelling mistake on MY stuff, however, I'd be pretty poor. :eek:

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rainbowgardener
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There's big words just to make yourself feel smarter and then there is precise speech. People use limited vocabularies and are sloppy. Every bad thing makes them mad/ pissed. But there are so many more shades and nuances that convey more information: irritated, annoyed, aggravated, frustrated, offended, outraged, furious, exacerbated, resentful, vexed .....

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TomatoNut95
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Perhaps if people were to play the word game Mad Libs more...(the books, not the app) it might help people come up with better words to use. Sometimes my story comes out dorky, sometimes I laugh so hard, tears are streaming down my face! Sometimes the longer and more professional sounding the word, the funnier the story comes out.

According to Google, the longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is: PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS which is the supposed term for a lung disease contracted by inhaling volcanic silica particles.

However, here is my favorite: SUPERCALIFRAGILILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!!

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Sometimes I run across words that I don't understand. Actually, I am finding them in an odd place. English translations of Chinese dramas. I remember the word " perfidy" in a translation and I looked it up. It means deceitful, unfaithful, disloyal. It still did not really make sense the way it was used in the sentence, but I took it as a learning experience. I would probably not have a use for it in general conversation.

There are some big words though that I do find useful since it is more concise than using a lot of other words. Some of the big words in regards to gardening like cauliferous is more concise it means fruit/flowers arising on the stems or trunk of the tree.
The extra long words I would not even attempt without breaking it down.

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TomatoNut95
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Thanks to one of my favorite gardening books, I have learned such words as: cotyledon(seed leaves), monocot,(plant with one cotyledon) dicot(plant with two cotyledons); seed class names such as achene,(lettuce and radicchio) utricle(spinach, amaranth and quinoa) schizocarp(dill, carrots, parsnips and cilantro) caryopsis(oats, rye and corn).
Dehiscent: means seed pods split at maturity.
Inflorescence: Inconspicuous flowers in the middle of a head(such as sunflowers, dill umbels and zinnias)
Monoecious: Male and female flowers dwell on same plant
Dioecious: Male flowers and female flowers dwell on separate plants.
Chasmogamous: Perfect flowers that open when mature.

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Sometimes I get carried away with my language. Being an extensive reader some of the words I use get into the "big word" category only because that is how I see the world and those words are in my head. In the stories I write there is a conscious effort to write for the audience I want to reach. I will not dumb down a story or an article since that to me is condescending and is a disservice. Sometimes keeping things simple is the very best way to get a point across, but sometimes a big word is necessary for effect and accuracy. I am my own demanding critic so if how I speak or write does not please me...

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I think you have a point. The words chosen have to fit the audience you are speaking to. You don't want to dumb down things too much but at the same time not go over the heads and seem condescending to the people you are trying to reach.

I used to like OMNI magazine. It was not the easiest read. I often did have to read OMNI with a dictionary to translate. I liked the First Word and the Last Word sections the best. The articles and science fiction stories were meant to be thought provoking and esoteric with symbolic and hidden meanings. Much of it was over my head, but at the time it was a way to see the world in a different light and it did expand my vocabulary and fueled the possibilities of what the future might become.

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digitS'
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I'm not the best at reasoning things out with language, as someone with a long history of severe hearing loss. I've learned from my own experience that language use is reinforced both visibly and orally. With very limited ability, I hear others speaking. Introverted and not using verbal skills -- I don't even hear myself speaking much or clearly. Still, and maybe because of these deficits, language interests me.

I read something the other day about believing that authoritarianism will come into our homes in jackboots. Instead, look to the language.

I'm concerned about simple explanations for complex reality. Fringes suppressing reasoned dialog because it forces someone to think.

Complex word use does not necessarily mean that there is some deep thinking behind it. On the other side of the coin, someone who uses simple words probably hasn't really worked out any real problems by thinking about them. The complexity may just have been brushed aside in favor of a bumper sticker on the butt of the car.

Steve

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I am sure you are right about the bumper stickers. I have to admit though it took me awhile to figure out what HE>I meant. I kept thinking what is that?

Sometimes big words really are there to be concise instead of using a lot of little words with no deep thinking involved.

Words that are philosophical whether big or small does evoke some thought about a deeper meaning which is vague anyway.

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Gary350
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Zed, nay, yerd, potus, girm, mullion, fample, asert, quai, etui, Ichor, Iman, jiao, edile, curvle, combi, anent, mamba, shrew, lictor, decury, augent, obelus, surreal, pachuco, meldrop, orphic, embark, uraeus, gabbit, cels, sipon, tuner, isthmi, albeit, banal, moot, jargon, despair, preuse, stark, umami, myriad, paradox, penchant, bemused, socrstic, modicum, mitigate, literally, epitone, dystepia, gustation, plethora, egregious, facetious, oracular, inevitable, collequial, tessalate, conundrum, deferential, incongruous, fortuitous, perfunctory, exponential, vernacular, instauaration, flamboyant, nazzard, glabella, dendrofilous, wamfle, ribazuba, cachinnate, sesamold, labrose, prezza, shatner, hircine, wallydrag, sneckdraw, hesternal, arsefingle, glossolalia, crurophilious, coprolalmanic, misodoctakeleidist, dispute, implement, controversy, admirably, iconic.

For several months I took notes of words that I came across while reading that I don't know and can't even pronounce. Some of these I know but not many.

It is interesting how everyone has a different vocabulary of works it probably has to do with needing to know them at work or they like using them in different situations as they talk. Rainbow listed these, irritated, annoyed, aggravated, frustrated, offended, outraged, furious, exacerbated, resentful, vexed. Only 2 of those words are in my daily vocabulary but I know what all those words but 2 mean. Last week I was talking and needed a stronger word it took me a second to say, outraged a word I have not used in many years. When I was in college I picked up a lot of new words from college professors in lecture class & students but after college those words fell by the way side I never needed them at work or church or camping. It is nice to hear someone talk that has a very good vocabulary words flow so smooth an sounds so good. Certain writers have a vocabulary that I like it makes me enjoy reading there books.

In college we use to play scrabble sometimes 10 people with 4 games mixed together. Experienced players always won that inspired me to read the dictionary in search of words for hard to use letters. I learned a lot of new words that I have now forgotten.
Last edited by Gary350 on Sun Feb 02, 2020 6:42 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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digitS'
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From your list, you lost me after vernacular, Gary.

It isn't just use. Memory is strengthened with imagination :wink: . Cliches help :> . Been waiting to use this:

WTH is an acronym?

Steve

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acrimonious verbiage.

SQWIB
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I wished I remember from whence it came, lol.
But I read an article that suggested writing articles at a 5th grade level, had something to do with attention span or something.

Fur da life of me I don't recall such things of the past as my brain fills up and had to delete stuff tuh make room for more stuff.

I had a guy once say Dough Knob, and then heard Bobba head, yes Bobble head.
Please don't Aks me again.
Then there's southern language, down the road-a-piece.
I was driving for 3 days and still don't know what distance a piece is, oh wait it's over yonder. Dadgummit.

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digitS'
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Language changes with the generations and, even, by individuals.

There is a concept in anthropology about technology changing because somebody "got it wrong." That is, they were mistaken about what they saw, how it worked or what it did. And yet, they went home and tried to replicate whatever it was. The result: a new tool or a new use!

Learning about word origin and not just a definition can lead in some interesting directions and can help us remember. I was just reading and hope I have this right : Delete and Erase - seem to be synonyms but why so different? Delete was a printer's term, related to the word Destroy but symbolized by a Delta. Erase and Erode had to do with something gnawed away.

Steve

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Gary350
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SQWIB that was so funny I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair and spilled my glass of wine. LOL.

I dislike politicians that talk but never say anything.

Let me suggest as I indicated already I have not yet determined when this action will conclude. I will make a judgement soon and when I do I will advise you and respond with a recommendation and address the problem and move forward to implement the provisions of the challenges so we can continue. I think we can sum this up by saying as the controversy continues we are trying to get to the bottom if this so we can determine the facts and take responsibility of this dilemma.

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Gary350
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I was reading an online articular when I came across this. Befuddled paramount disdainful discernment virulent demagogy solipsism schadenfreude.

Is that real English or is it a foreign language? When I come across words I can not pronounce I substitute words like Diarrhea it never changes the meaning of the whole sentence.
Last edited by Gary350 on Wed Mar 18, 2020 11:00 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Otiose:
1. Lazy; indolent.
2. Of no use; pointless or superfluous.
3. Ineffective; futile.

Solecism:
1 : an ungrammatical combination of words in a sentence; also, a minor blunder in speech
2 : something deviating from the proper, normal, or accepted order
3 : a breach of etiquette or decorum

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digitS'
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The German language might be impossible to top for BIG words. I had trouble learning its little words but tried not to be frustrated regarding the language's remarkable use of compounding ..!

Mark Twain must have been a frustrated student of German. While there he wrote about some of those words. Freundschaftsbezeugung, it means: demonstrations of friendship.

German has a word for obsessive shopping and hoarding: Hamsterkäufe. It means to shop like a nervous hamster, cheeks bulging from excess.

Much of British English is from the German language group. When toilet paper began to come into common use, it was called bumfodder. A related American slang word is bumfuzzle, to confuse.

You can probably see where I'm going with this if it's not all just bumf. But anyway, we should try to demonstrate a little friendship during this time of confusion.

Steve

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Steve, I don't know German, but 'Hamsterkäufe'? - I love it! And I've always thought 'bumf' should be spelled Bunff. Seems more - I don't know - elegant?

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pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

with 45 letters this is the longest word in the dictionary. But like the german examples, if you break it up into sections you can guess at the meaning. It is a lung disease caused by inhaling a very fine silica dust (like volcanic ash)

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Gary350
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200 hospital employees furloughed

I am trying to pronounce this word, fur laugh ed? no word I hear heard. If I know how to pronounce it then maybe I know what it means. I had to look it up.

200 hospital employees laid off.

TV News drives me nuts they are talking about 8 people that are lost. They show several face picture and keep saying these people were lost an dates they were lost. I am thinking, how do 8 people get lost and why is no one looking for them? Finally they start talking about funeral arrangements.

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Gary350
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posthumously

How many people actually know what his word means with out looking it up?

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digitS'
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It means:

After we are on the way to being humus.

Not before,

while we are still scratching around on the Earth, hoping to progress human life, that way.

Steve

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Gary350
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Gary350 wrote:
Fri Feb 12, 2021 10:41 am
posthumously

How many people actually know what his word means with out looking it up?
After hearing someone say this on TV I had to look it up. It means, 1,2,3 order as mentioned.
Example, 3 ships were sunk, Wisconsin, Lexington, Tennessee, posthumously.
Last edited by Gary350 on Tue Feb 16, 2021 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Dissily Mordentroge
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A greater enemy of comprehension comes from the sloppiness of recent academic fashion. The French triggered this disease inventing ‘deconstructionism’ (look it up but be warned, you’re diving into an ocean of gibberish).
Then along came the M BA’s (Master’s of Business Administration). Take a normal, intelligent student, put them through and M BA degree and a moron jabbering nonsense emerges at the other end. (graduates) This group aren’t so much guilty of using big words as replacing single words with longer phrases. ‘Sacking’ becomes 'redeployment opportunity’, ‘results’ becomes ‘goal directed outcomes’ - the list could go on.
Sadly a majority of universities in the West now appoint M BA’s as University deans facilitating (‘operationally easing' in M BA talk) the spread of linguistic gibberish throughout their institutions.

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Dissily Mordentroge
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Gary350 wrote:
Fri Feb 12, 2021 10:41 am
posthumously

How many people actually know what his word means with out looking it up?
I know of one who’s grasped it’s meaning since infancy, me.



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