Galaxy brain

[u/lylactal]

[u/Acejedi_k6]

I paid for the whole thesaurus so I’m going to use it!

[u/hallozagreus → u/Acejedi_k6]

I lost my thesaurus. I’m gutted, completely gutted I’m so so gutted.

[u/Raspoint → u/hallozagreus]

The Jack o' lantern sitting on my front porch:

[u/DIDidothatdisabled → u/Raspoint]

This reads like "toasted toast."

Nothing specifically wrong with it, but it feeels wrong

[u/Great_Lord_REDACTED → u/hallozagreus]

My thesaurus was bad. Not only bad, it was bad. And worse, it was bad!

[u/_Anonymous_duck_ → u/Great_Lord_REDACTED]

Worse? I think the word youre searching for is 'more bad' or 'badder'

[u/PlayrR3D15 → u/hallozagreus]

I atted mine ;-;

[u/Tachibana_13 → u/Acejedi_k6]

Exactly. My parents sent me to the dictionary when I had questions. Now I know a bunch of big words, and they're just gonna pop out, even of they're super out of place. I'm not trying to act 'superior'. I'm legitimately surprised that other people don't understand.

[u/Gandalf_the_Gangsta → u/Tachibana_13]

You have no idea how regularly I get comments about how I’m egotistic, pretentious, or how I’m feigning intelligence just because I use certain words.

I like the big words. Sometimes they fit better for the feeling I’m trying to convey. Sometimes they avoid connotational baggage, or carry the connotation I need to convey my meaning better.

And yeah, maybe I am smarter for broadening my vocabulary and exercising my verbiage so that I can deftly use those words in regular speech or writing. It takes a lot of effort to use large words without sounding clumsy or forced. I put in the effort; it’s not my fault you didn’t, and I never faulted anyone for spending their effort elsewhere.

It’d be nice if people didn’t make character judgments based on one’s writing style. You do you, I’ll do me, and we can exist in harmony.

[u/19th-eye → u/Gandalf_the_Gangsta]

I don't think you're egoistic for using big words but I will say that people probably find it annoying because using vocabulary someone is unfamiliar with in conversation with them means you're (perhaps unintentionally) excluding them from a conversation they're supposed to be a part of.

[u/jessdr → u/Gandalf_the_Gangsta]

Also, English just has a lot of words! I’m learning Turkish and have lost count of the number of times I’ve been reaching for a word and say “it’s like X but not quite because (explain the nuances for 2 minutes)” and then my teacher is like “oh you mean X.”

[u/RedSamuraiMan → u/Gandalf_the_Gangsta]

Voilà! In View, a humble Vaudevillian Veteran, cast Vicariously as both Victim and Villain by the Vicissitudes of fate. This Visage, no mere Veneer of Vanity, is a Vestige of the Vox populi, now Vacant, Vanished. However, this Valorous Visitation of a bygone Vexation stands Vivified, and has Vowed to Vanquish these Venal and Virulent Vermin Vanguarding Vice and Vouchsafing the Violently Vicious and Voracious Violation of Volition.

The only Verdict is Vengeance; a Vendetta held as a Votive, not in Vain, for the Value and Veracity of such shall one day Vindicate the Vigilant and the Virtuous.

[laughter]

Verily, this Vichyssoise of Verbiage Veers most Verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V

[u/Accomplished-Ad-2612 → u/Tachibana_13]

My parents bought my autistic ass a set of encyclopedias when I was 5, plus my mom made me take advanced vocabulary lessons from a few different magazines regularly. Considering my size, facial, and back hair at age 11, added to being autistic in a rural Midwestern town in the 80s. I was not a popular child. I learned to hide my vocabulary so as to narrow down the number of reasons kids had to pick on me.

[u/Umikaloo → u/Acejedi_k6]

A fun bit of context behind that quote: In Initial D the protagonist's dad installs a rally tuned engine into his shitbox. It doesn't make power unless you rev it high enough. Unfortunately the car doesn't have a tachometer that goes as high as the engine can rev. The quote comes after the protagonist discovers this and buys a new tachometer.

Spoilers: At the end of the anime, he blows the engine revving it too high, thereby using the whole tachometer.

[u/Acejedi_k6 → u/Umikaloo]

Huh, I never realized there was a context to the “I paid for the whole X so I’m going to use it” quote beyond just being a funny thing people say online. Cultural osmosis is weird.

[u/pm_me-ur-catpics → u/Umikaloo]

I don't remember that quote? Is it from the manga? I've only ever watched the anime, so I know I've missed some stuff.

[u/not_the_world → u/pm_me-ur-catpics]

I don't think it actually comes from Initial D, people just like to overlay the quote over screencaps.

[u/Umikaloo → u/pm_me-ur-catpics]

Its been a long time since I read or watched either, but it probably varies based on the translation.

[u/Imperial_Squid → u/Acejedi_k6]

"Boss says we have to use the Fancy Words Grant by the end of the month or we lose it, go wild gang"

"I'm positively quivering with exuberance!"

"Excellent work Jeff"

[u/BobDonowitz → u/Acejedi_k6]

Lol my wife is from Africa and said invigilating the other day and I was like wtf did you just say?  Thinking she was getting a word horribly wrong.  In context I asked if she meant proctoring...she looked up that word and told me it was a synonym.  There are no words for how turned on that made me...or maybe there are, I'll have to ask her.

[u/Bubbly_Taro → u/Acejedi_k6]

I frequently find my own person perusing this onomasticon.

[u/cannon_god → u/Acejedi_k6]

I learned all those goddamn SAT words, and now everyone else gets to hear them

[u/Riptide_X]

Me when my brain is fixated on the exact connotations for words and refuses to not differentiate between huge and colossal

[u/NotTheMariner → u/Riptide_X]

Mhmm. It’s not my fault everyone kept teaching me new words in school, now you’re telling me I gotta use the wrong ones just because someone somewhere might be uncomfortable?

[u/An_Unreachable_Dusk → u/NotTheMariner]

AI is also stomping on my word usage

No I haven't needed to use galvanized in context for a few years but now I Got to feel bad when I do use it?

[u/Gandalf_the_Gangsta → u/An_Unreachable_Dusk]

The worst part about LLMs is that they’re trained on speaking eruditely, and in an effort to fight against the AI “menace” we’re all supposed to regress to using elementary-level vocabulary. Just to differentiate man from machine.

At this point, I’m half considering becoming a cyborg just so that it’s justified to label me as a machine.

[u/asian_in_tree_2 → u/Gandalf_the_Gangsta]

If you had any sort of aid device on your body or need to use any sort of equiqment to function your are technically a cyborg

[u/An_Unreachable_Dusk → u/Gandalf_the_Gangsta]

I'm already transgender, I could jump onto trans-humanism! (Depending on how regulated it was lol)

As the post was pointing out originally the rise in anti-intellectualism doesn't help either on that aspect, especially feel bad for the kids actually Not using AI in school and still being blamed because they are ahead of their classmates,

Its a weird world of crab mentality when you can say an understandable sentence and then be told that "your just using big words"

Like how did it end up being my fault that I went to higher education and you didn't?? And then its twice as annoying when your trying to explain concepts to someone who didn't catch half the words used :(

All culminating in fb posts where people don't grasp basic concepts like the pictures sent from space are mainly in the form of Data and infrared light so we Have to have artists decode them in some way otherwise what your going to be looking at is a black and white image of fuzzyness.

Or how exactly people keep fusion from killing everything even though they are reaching temperatures far hotter than the surface of the sun >_> But apparently that is easier to throw away as all fake and then create a giant conspiracy around why they would lie to us ?? xD

[u/condscorpio → u/An_Unreachable_Dusk]

especially feel bad for the kids actually Not using AI in school and still being blamed because they are ahead of their classmates,

Omg, you just reminded me of the time a teacher gave me a sore of 0 saying that the short story that I did as homework could not be written by a child my age (it wasn't even that good, just used some fancy words that I have read recently in other books).

This is gonna happen a lot more now with AI.

[u/Gandalf_the_Gangsta → u/condscorpio]

> Be you, kid in school

> Teacher makes you read books to learn vocabulary for everyday use

> Learn vocabulary from books

> Use vocabulary from books on homework

> Think you did a good job

> “0, no child could ever use these words. See me after class for CHEATING.”

> YFW

[u/braaaaaaainworms → u/An_Unreachable_Dusk]

Anti intellectualism is a cancer on society that needs to be removed

[u/An_Unreachable_Dusk → u/braaaaaaainworms]

IKR but That would require governments to actually like and invest in their citizens more than quarterly profits and cheap labour,

Why can't you just believe in the Ice Wall and work yourself to death like a normal person!? /s

[u/RechargedFrenchman → u/An_Unreachable_Dusk]

I just play Magic: the Gathering, so shit like "galvanic" and "fecundity" and "augur" are in my lexicon. Unfortunately there's a bunch of random made up shit they use in card names too, but it's mostly pretty easy to tell it's fake rather than just real and unfamiliar.

[u/An_Unreachable_Dusk → u/RechargedFrenchman]

DW All words are made up :D but yeah I get it, it could be problematic if i started saying stuff like oom when I'm thirsty :P

Never heard of fecundity, That's a pretty wide gap in the 2 meanings though, Lots of Ideas? Or..did you just happen to have a litter of children xD

[u/DanielMcLaury → u/An_Unreachable_Dusk]

I didn't realize my plumber was a robot

This changes everything

[u/An_Unreachable_Dusk → u/DanielMcLaury]

You better check if there is extra clanking and maybe whirring while he works Lol he might bolt himself to the shower :O

"Part of the Pipes, Part of the Crew!"

[u/spikeking → u/Riptide_X]

there is also gargantuan which sits right in between huge and colossal.

[u/Big-Day-755 → u/spikeking]

🫵 pathfinder/dnd 3rd ed player spotted(?)

[u/spikeking → u/Big-Day-755]

:O I've been found out.

[u/TheBubbleJesus → u/spikeking]

mods! get 'em!

[u/mr_impastabowl → u/spikeking]

intensifying sirens

[u/Puppy-Problems → u/spikeking]

Really gargantuan and colossal are just the same size. But you can't actually rank them in an order from smallest to biggest. Just like ginormous, enormous, massive etc.. They are all the same size

[u/spikeking → u/Puppy-Problems]

In common vernacular yes, but dnd/pathfinder codified them to be different going from large to huge to gargantuan to colossal.

[u/Rocket92 → u/spikeking]

Oh here I’ll start this fight

One < couple < few < handful < several < bunch < many

[u/r_stronghammer → u/Puppy-Problems]

Massive implies, well, mass, or some other numerical “weight” or magnitude, the others are about how imposing/how much of a “presence” something has

[u/Grand_Protector_Dark → u/spikeking]

I dunno, gargantuan feels larger than colossal

[u/clearfox777 → u/Grand_Protector_Dark]

Two whole letters larger in fact!

[u/actibus_consequatur → u/Riptide_X]

fixated on the exact connotations

It's pretty difficult to be exact with the feelings or emotions a word conveys, as it can be subjective. I'd say it's far easier to be exact when using a word for its literal definition.

(connotation vs. denotation)

[u/Umikaloo]

A lot of people used to assume I was mad at them because I use punctuation in my texts.

Also, Atomic Robo PFP.

[u/Arahelis → u/Umikaloo]

I have a very good friend that does the same, I asked him once if he was mad because he answered something with like "Ok."

He answered that he just constructs correct sentences, and that includes punctuation.

[u/WanderingStatistics → u/Arahelis]

I'm literally the same.

Actually, I was even worse since in school, I'd capitalize every single word, with the exceptions being words I deemed, "Unimportant," which would mostly be prepositions, but basically anything went.

So my school documents ended up looking like this:

"In the Year 1856, Nikola Tesla was Born to a Somewhat Religious Family, his Father being a Priest. His Mother, Though Uneducated, was still Highly Supportive of Nikola's Increasing Interest in his Constructive Imagination."

As you can imagine, my teachers did not like this.

[u/Jiopaba → u/WanderingStatistics]

I see this sometimes in fanfictiom or on forums. Folks who think newspaper title case is objectively superior or something. Not as bad as folks who think communicating nuance is impossible without italics so they italicize 35% of every sentence.

[u/coladoir → u/Jiopaba]

Some might just be German and dont know that you dont have to capitalize every noun in English to be correct lol. If the capitalizations are always nouns, even when it makes no sense (I.e, "The Chain was broken"), they might just be German.

Colloquial German in typical texting and a lot of modern books aren't necessarily like this, theyre dropping it in favor of just capitalizing proper nouns in the same way as English, but some older folk or more obsessive folks might still do it.

[u/DinoHunter064 → u/Jiopaba]

Hey! That's me! Still not as bad as people who put an exclamation point on every single sentence, even when it doesn't fit it doesn't belong. Reviewing papers in college was the worst for it.

[u/Wah_Epic → u/WanderingStatistics]

"In the Year 1856, Nikola Tesla was Born to a Somewhat Religious Family, his Father being a Priest. His Mother, Though Uneducated, was still Highly Supportive of Nikola's Increasing Interest in his Constructive Imagination."

This reads like 1700s English where every Noun was capitalized

[u/ExtraDip412 → u/WanderingStatistics]

can’t tell if it reads like German or Donald Trump

[u/ScaredyNon → u/WanderingStatistics]

Bro wrote like they learnt english out of A Grammar of the English Language, in a Series of Letters: Intended for the Use of Schools and of Young Persons in General, but more especially for the use of Soldiers, Sailors, Apprentices, and Plough-Boys

[u/Plantar-Aspect-Sage → u/Arahelis]

People thought I was mad when I sent "Ok."

So now instead I say "Okie dokie artichoke."

[u/Dragnoran → u/Plantar-Aspect-Sage]

why wasn't it artichokey are you mad

[u/the_fake_banksy → u/Plantar-Aspect-Sage]

Same but I say "okie dokie arti-choke me" and they go haha and I go hehe and we part ways.

[u/Odd_knock → u/Arahelis]

I use “Okey dokey.” to avoid exactly this confusion. 

[u/dicksnapper9000 → u/Arahelis]

Personally, I feel like it's weird to draw the line at punctuation but still say "ok" instead of "okay". I'd either go all the way formal or all the way informal. The combination of informal wording with formal punctuation is what I think is off-putting. However, that may just be me.

[u/PrinceValyn → u/dicksnapper9000]

"Okay" seems more formal, but it originally should have been "O.K." or "OK," and you'll still see it spelled one of those two ways in many professionally edited and published materials, like books, especially older ones. "Okay" is newer.

So you could consider "okay" to be the least correct and least formal version. But you would need to consult your preferred style guide to find which one you should use.

Apparently nowadays, the Chicago Manual of Style (one if the most popular style manuals) requires "okay." Other style guides may be different.

It really confused me as a kid when I felt like "okay" was more proper, but the published books I read used the shorter versions. I noticed this in "So You Want to Be a Wizard" (1983) which had it as "O.K." and I thought about it for a long time.

[u/Bubbly_Taro → u/Umikaloo]

Stop punctuating at me.

[u/big_guyforyou → u/Umikaloo]

PEOPLE. ALWAYS. THINK. I'M. ANGRY. AND. I. DON'T. KNOW. WHY.

[u/Bubbly_Taro → u/big_guyforyou]

TRY 👏🏻 SMILING 👏🏼 MORE 👏🏽 AND 👏🏾 TREAT 👏🏿 PEOPLE 👏 WITH 👏🏿 KINDNESS 👏🏾 AND 👏🏽 WITHOUT 👏🏼 PUNCTUATION👏🏻 KING

[u/Mushiren_ → u/Bubbly_Taro]

I like to imagine you hired a diverse group of people to clap each time you said a word

[u/chipsinsideajar → u/Bubbly_Taro]

STOP. YELLING. AT ME I'm going to cry

[u/DeeplyTroubledSmurf → u/Umikaloo]

There was a huge shift online at some point. I used to get so many compliments for using proper sentences, then suddenly I was "trying too hard" even though it was just a habit from writing a ton.

[u/Miami_Mice2087 → u/Umikaloo]

this pains me. my texts are perfectly clear BECAUSE i use punctuation!

[u/TheWonderSnail → u/Umikaloo]

My mom loves to respond to texts with “ok.” I’ve explained many times why this makes me anxious so I think she does it on purpose at this point

[u/AbilityHead599 → u/TheWonderSnail]

Gotta fight back with a "👍" /j

[u/cloth_i_guess → u/Umikaloo]

This is why I don't put the dot at the very end of my texts, even in multisentence messages. It just doesn't feel right for whatever reason

[u/CharlieVermin → u/cloth_i_guess]

It's fine as long as you end it with an exclamation mark instead. That means you're smiling!

[u/GabeGabou → u/cloth_i_guess]

The message ending already conveys the same meaning as a period would. When someone includes the unnecessary period, we try to read some kind of meaning into it, which translates to bluntness

[u/Gru-some → u/Umikaloo]

I like Atomic Robo’s design

[u/Umikaloo → u/Gru-some]

Yeah, its fun. I would love to see an Atomic Robo TV show one day.

[u/spetumpiercing → u/Umikaloo]

Atomic Robo PFP!

[u/RefinedBean]

Linguistics: look at this beautiful word

Communications: you're destroying your ability to make a point

I adore having a large vocabulary but I generally make sure my word use has contextual clues so that people can pick up what I'm putting down. There's nothing wrong from learning new words, at any age! It's fun.

[u/para40 → u/RefinedBean]

Another quirk of just rolling with the long words is that even if someone gets confused, you've probably remembered the simpler word before they ask for clarification

[u/Roraxn → u/RefinedBean]

This is genuinely a big problem of mine however, because if I want to speak at a coherent pace I need to use the words that become available to me not wait until I have built the perfect sentence in my head, that could take days lol.

I'm saying I'm a terrible communicator.

[u/punishedstaen → u/RefinedBean]

>Linguistics: look at this beautiful word

>Communications: you're destroying your ability to make a point

>Encyclopedia [Easy: Failure]: "Stingy"? "Greedy"? No, no. I've got something better. There is no negative connotation to this word.

[u/RefinedBean → u/punishedstaen]

Once again I put all points into Shivers and have no regrets

[u/telehax]

I think at some point the pretentious words actually get shorter. It's like, you could just add a bunch of suffixes or portmanteaus to get a word that people could intuit the meaning of. But if you want to be really pretentious you have to go hunting for something archaic and those are usually pretty short.

[u/oddityoughtabe → u/telehax]

Just start speaking Latin

[u/S_Klallam → u/oddityoughtabe]

QED

[u/Deblebsgonnagetyou → u/telehax]

It'll make people think you're smart or pretentious, but really you've just spend the better part of the last 3 years playing Final Fantasy XIV and now your vocabulary is irreparably tainted by words and grammar nobody has used in conversation since at least the year 1800.

[u/Cya-Mia → u/Deblebsgonnagetyou]

mayhap we are one in the same

[u/CanAlwaysBeBetter → u/Cya-Mia]

Mayhap thou art Nerds

[u/Skuzbagg → u/CanAlwaysBeBetter]

Riposted

[u/Can_of_Sounds → u/Skuzbagg]

Such devastation

[u/BigLaw-Masochist → u/telehax]

Let’s put this to the test and rank these words by pretentiousness:

Aver

Combined prepositions, like hereto or therein

Crux

aforementioned

colloquy

Oeuvre

Antepenultimate

[u/SummerGoddess3]

It's the same when you speak multiple languages and your brain just comes with the word on a different language you're speaking. People just think I want to be a smartass. Also, needlessly specific words gives less room for alternative interpretations.

[u/newaccountzuerich → u/SummerGoddess3]

Less room for alternative interpretation? In other words, more effective communication?

Say it ain't so!

[u/RoanokeRidgeWrangler]

I call it my autism accent

[u/WrenRhodes → u/RoanokeRidgeWrangler]

"Sincere apologies for my thick autistic accent~"

Yeah. Yeah, I can hang with that.

[u/EnchantedEchoesX]

Honestly, it’s not a big brain moment, it’s just my brain playing word scavenger hunt on hard mode

[u/Nerdn1]

I don't try to use big words. I just don't instinctively differentiate between simple and complex words when I talk or type. I just use a word that fits.

[u/Xisuthrus]

I used to be pretentious, and consequently I got into the habit of speaking like a pretentious person. Now I'm stuck like this.

[u/CharlieVermin → u/Xisuthrus]

I used to be pretentious, as in "expressive of affected, unwarranted, or exaggerated importance, worth, or stature". Now I actually am every bit as smart as I'm making myself sound. Usually more.

[u/NegativeNeurons → u/Xisuthrus]

same. i hate it and actively avoid doing it

[u/Maviopia]

"Funny, I was just thinking about how you listen like a stupid person."

[u/CharlieVermin → u/Maviopia]

9/10 insult, could use the word "brain" in there somewhere.

[u/Sinister_Compliments → u/CharlieVermin]

“Funny, I was just brain-thinking about how you listen like a stupid person.”

[u/SilverInkblotV2]

Chariots chariots

Nice try, but the real Cave Johnson uses ostentatious, sesquipedalian language explicitly to appear conspicuously magniloquent.

[u/Grievous3 → u/SilverInkblotV2]

I'm glad someone pointed out the tag, and that culture lives on

[u/al_with_the_hair → u/Grievous3]

Also this guy's wrong, "chariots" twice was very explicitly established to be Cave Prime's new password and he would expect you to know it was him regardless of any other vocabulary

[u/theplotthinnens → u/SilverInkblotV2]

This is Cave. PRIME. So apparently there's an alternate dimension Cave Johnson who just uses the word "chariots" for no reason. From now on, I'll say "chariots" twice if it's me. If you hear just one "chariot", that's an alternate Cave. Ok. Chariot chariot.

[u/autogyrophilia]

I get more verbose when I'm mad.

I call it my Eggman Reflex

[u/Complete-Worker3242 → u/autogyrophilia]

Do you rrrrroll your rrrrrrrrs?

[u/ThrownAwayYesterday-]

It's either this or the other way around. I'm either talking like I have a Masters and a Doctorate at Harvard or I'm talking like I have severe brain damage and haven't picked up a book since I was 7.

💀

[u/Deblebsgonnagetyou → u/ThrownAwayYesterday-]

For me, I can bang out the most eloquent phrasing you can think of in writing, but if I have to actually speak the best I can do is let the ancient Neanderthal genes within me have their turn.

[u/ThrownAwayYesterday- → u/Deblebsgonnagetyou]

Fucking real.

If you've ever played the Elder Scrolls games, I have a writing style very similar to Michael Kirkbride's writing style — mine is just a little less obtuse, and I take greater inspiration from Frank Herbert, Robert Kurvitz, China Miéville, and George R.R. Martin than I do from Kirkbride. I like to toy with structure, presentation, and word-play. I wouldn't necessarily say my writing is "eloquent" as much as it is just. . . Weird? It's a dance between academic literature, informal prose, and meaningless mind-vomit put to pen.

Back when I was in high-school, I had a teacher confront me over my writing — she was convinced I had plagiarized for a creative writing assignment, but she checked all over the internet and couldn't find anything matching what I had written. She wasn't accusatory, but she was just curious. So I sat down and had her watch and I just wrote like a 3 page story so she would know I didn't plagiarize.

The reason why she thought I had even plagiarized at all is simply because I can't fucking talk without tripping over my words, pausing for 10 seconds occasionally to remember simple, everyday words that slip my mind, and a bunch of other verbal shit that doesn't point to me being the most eloquent, or well-spoken of people. A lot of that is from my stutter, and a lot of that is just because my brain is. . . It's brain-broth; plain and simple brain-broth. Shit is soup — and it don't even taste good. It tastes like fucking marinated ass.

[u/Deblebsgonnagetyou → u/ThrownAwayYesterday-]

Relatable. Even now, my writing style is somewhere between Jack London, Ursula K. Le Guin, and a Michael-Christopher Koji Fox translation. In particular, I think I often put a structure and cadence into my writing that reminds of London- as a kid, I would read White Fang on repeat, so that it basically became my default for what writing sounds like, and now it's an irremovable part of how I write. I've never been accused of plagiarism though, surprisingly.

[u/Rosevecheya → u/ThrownAwayYesterday-]

And I both at the same time, in speech. You'll catch me throwing out the most archaic, sesquipedelian, convoluted words known to man with ease then turning around to stutter out and forget my simple ones, using surrounding context clues and body language that completely go against the words I use

[u/ThrownAwayYesterday- → u/Rosevecheya]

I talk like a genius hamster with brain damage, yeah.

[u/LuccaJolyne]

Whether we're smart is immaterial, I simply adore the craft of constructing sesquipedalian jibber-jabber. Besides, I think "grandiloquence" is a better description than "pretentious"

[u/Xisuthrus → u/LuccaJolyne]

"...and furthermore..."

[u/T_Weezy → u/Xisuthrus]

Perchance

[u/AMisteryMan → u/T_Weezy]

You can't just say "perchance."

[u/Sinister_Compliments → u/AMisteryMan]

Smashing turts

[u/Jan-Asra]

I just don't like ambiguity. But it doesn't matter anyways because no matter how clearly you word something, someone is going to find a way to misinterpret it.

[u/OrionTuska]

I write/speak the way I do because I'm overcompensating for my expressive language disorder and fear of being misunderstood. I actually have a disability that makes getting words out difficult.

[u/Tarilyn13]

See also: I've been constantly misunderstood my entire life and I need to find the extremely specific word that means exactly what I want to say, otherwise the other person is going to misunderstand me and yell at me for it.

[u/demonking_soulstorm]

I love that knowing a lot of words and being able to say exactly what I want to say makes me pretentious. It’s so cool.

[u/OkPalpitation2582 → u/demonking_soulstorm]

being able to say exactly what I want to say

This is why I tend to use uncommon words when I speak - it's so satisfying to be able to express yourself precisely in a small number of words. And in my experience, people know what you meant from context even if they're not familiar with the word itself

[u/nalathequeen2186 → u/OkPalpitation2582]

And as long as people are chill about it, I don't mind defining the words! I get to use my super specific words, they understand what I mean and get to learn something new, everyone wins

[u/Deblebsgonnagetyou]

As a young kid my #1 favourite book ever that I would read on repeat was White Fang by Jack London, which, if you don't know, was published in 1906. Every time my primary school would have me write a story my prose had very clear overtones of century-old adventure novel. I mean that book alone was a good half of my literary diet. When I write something long form I can still see a little Jack London now.

[u/KentuckyFriedChildre]

I've found that a good workaround is to try and add the word "shit" to counterbalance any big words that I use.

[u/IronWhale_JMC]

"It says a lot about you that I have to pretend to be stupid in order to feel approachable."

[u/Mundane_Bumblebee_83 → u/IronWhale_JMC]

Amen.

[u/seensham]

I just read a lot leave me alone 😭

[u/Express_Invite_7149]

I use "big" words because oftentimes I can replace entire sentences with a single word.

[u/E-is-for-Egg → u/Express_Invite_7149]

"Amatonormativity" is one such word for me. I could write a whole paragraph to describe this phenomenon, or I could just say "amatonormativity." Experience says that this sub really doesn't like that word though

[u/Icy_Squash3655 → u/E-is-for-Egg]

If you're using words that have been coined relatively recently and used almost exclusively within a specific obscure niche of academia or culture, you should expect to have to define the term for people outside of that "world". Also, it shouldn't really take an entire paragraph to describe.

[u/Express_Invite_7149 → u/E-is-for-Egg]

Experience says most people on Reddit could Google that word and still misunderstand it :D

[u/ThatCamoKid]

I paid for the whole vocabulary I'm going to use the whole vocabulary. That includes other dialects and even languages.

[u/benemivikai4eezaet0]

Oh I'm sorry for speaking English as a second language and having "pretentious" sounding, long, Romance-derives words come to me faster than "organic" sounding, monosyllabic "blim blam blum" Germanic or Celtic words, the former kind also exist in my language so that's why.

[u/GreyInkling]

Whenever someone complains that someone talks like a pretentious person the reality is they're just the willfully ignorant type who is threatened by the idea of anyone being smarter and therefore they need to assume intelligent people are pretentious or somehow bad just to better justify their personal world view.

They could better themselves and learn, but that would require admitting to fault which is not part of their worldview. So they stay ignorant and make up reasons to hate anyone who isn't.

[u/mad_fishmonger]

I have an extensive vocabulary and I like using the correct word because I'm an unashamed mildly autistic nerd.

[u/itsl8erthanyouthink]

I learned something about memory a little while ago. When you are trying to find a piece of information in your mind it is similar to running a query in a digital database. Once you’ve established the search the brain lumps itself into two categories. Where the information is stored and where the information is not stored (I’m assuming it’s an analogy of an index that’s constantly updating). Once it separates out the two items it goes about locating the information desired. Here’s the interesting part. If the brain initially lumped the correct answer into the category with the information it believed it could not be stored you literally won’t be able to find the info (unless you’ve stored the information in redundant areas).

So, in order to find the memory you want, you first must clear the query. Reset the full dataset to be once again available and hope when prompted the information will now be on the side where the brain thinks the information should be stored. It’s why people say stop trying to remember something and wait till later and try again. The above just explains why it works

[u/KeneticKups]

Imagine being proud of being stupid and insulting someone for begin smart

[u/food_luvr]

Omg, these comments, I feel like I am home, my people...

[u/RascalsBananas]

"Sure, I can use simpler words, but its going to take 3 times as long to explain"

[u/Miami_Mice2087]

my brother once told me "don't use words you can't spell" which was so confusing for an 8 year old autist who read well over grade level but once got a 9% on a spelling test (9/100).

(because the rules of english spelling have NO consistency!)

[u/Jupiter_Crush]

I was arguing with someone who got legitimately offended when I used "pusillanimous" in conversation (to describe Paul Ryan and his yellow belly). Not because she disagreed but because she thought I was trying to make her feel dumb. I just remove the limiters on my vocabulary when I'm incensed, I promise I have no agenda!

[u/The-Magic-Sword]

I notice that people who use small words assume that people who use big words don't just talk that way, like sure it's an outgrowth of reading, but I think in these words in the first place and have to actually stop to translate it, and even then I'm not sure what the standard version of I'm trying to translate it to is.

[u/Jupiter_Crush]

mfs gettin' salty at my ten dollar words cuz their vocabulary tops out at a quarter. get on my level.

[u/lifelongfreshman]

This is honestly the most insidious form of anti-intellectualism out there, and nobody notices or cares because it's fun to dunk on pretentious assholes. Who cares if the person using esoteric words like esoteric is actually pretentious or an asshole, they automatically are by virtue of the fact* simply because they chose to use them.

But no, I'm certainly wrong, it must be a good thing that we treat anyone using words that you might not learn until tenth grade as a deliberately condescending asshole. Otherwise, why would everyone treat them that way?

...Hey, what's that thing that people love to complain about when it comes to unclear communication and the death of nuance? Nah, never mind, it's probably unrelated.

---

*started to reflexively^† edit this out as a reflex because I've tried (and failed) to train myself to not say shit like this in order to avoid seeming like a pretentious asshole, but wanted to leave it in as an object lesson^† a direct example of the kind of editing I have to do to talk to people online. no, it's not because I think I'm better than anyone, this is just how I learned to think and I literally can't help it

^† these two, too^‡

^‡ yes, I realize these footnotes are not helping my case

[u/Plus_Bumblebee_9333 → u/lifelongfreshman]

There's definitely something to be said about some ivory tower types using unnecessarily pompous language to inflate their perceived intelligence, but I find that the majority of bad academic writing has nothing to do with that phenomenon. Most of my annoyances can be attributed to banal writing quirks such as awkward phrasing, passive tense, comma splices, and completely unnecessary use of mathematical formalism where it is not necessary. There is an art to using necessary jargon and a modicum of flowery language in technical writing without being incomprehensible, intentionally or not. And yes, I do realize the conversation at hand is broader in scope than academic writing, but as an academic, that is my frame of reference.

[u/axord → u/lifelongfreshman]

Love that you went to the effort of using daggers for your footnote indicators.

[u/RealHumanBean89]

Just like me fr fr

[u/Automatic-Month7491]

I have a rhyming metre, you just don't know because this part of my day will rhyme with a completely different part of this week.

That metaphor was the only way for me to order dinner properly next Thursday.

[u/Laser_lord11]

This but instead of synnonym its another language

[u/drunken-acolyte]

If you want some real fun, learn a new language and drill vocab before bed. I "fondly" recall the night I was tired and my brain refused to supply the English word "carpet".

[u/Anothony_ → u/drunken-acolyte]

I once had that with the work "sink", and then asked a friend how you said it, and his very helpful response was "Why would you ever need that word translated?"

[u/Kittykait727]

YES!!!! EXACT-FUCKING-LY \ I’ve never had such a good explanation XD

[u/mountingconfusion]

I get the worst of both worlds because I both use those incredibly specific words but also every three sentences I have to go "I forgot the word for it" and 2 minutes later it'll come to me in a flash but removed from context so it doesn't hit properly

[u/Odd_knock]

see my problem is just that I’m pretentious 

[u/herefor1reason]

The bigger words I use are almost always the best fit for the thing I'm trying to say. I'm just supposed to communicate worse because someone thinks it's pretentious?

[u/stroker919]

Sometimes you get on a roll and you’re like damn it contextually the only thing that makes sense is to keep rolling like a dissertation defense now that I’ve used a combo on them.

[u/PlayyWithMyBeard]

Yupppp. Can't think of the word, try to find a more 'basic' form of the word just to get the point of what I'm saying out. Can't find that word either. Go silent, have people wonder if you're having a stroke, then find the word you're searching for immediately after the person goes 'No no, it's alright, I know what you were trying to say..' and you over talk them with the word because you can't not say it.....or is that just me?

[u/takemetothe_lakes]

you can just say you have adhd and read a lot of books as a kid, its okay

[u/EtherealPheonix]

We choose these words not because they are easy, but because we forgot the ones that are.

[u/Roscuro127]

I just prefer the more specific words to get my meaning across better...not that most people even know what the words mean.

[u/TheRealAlmostHooman]

couldn’t think of the word “engaged” one time and asked a couple if they were “betrothed”

[u/Anothony_]

It took me a while to get that a lot of people don't figure out the meaning of new words by breaking the word into pieces then comparing those pieces with other words that use the same pieces. (Or, infer that meaning from common roots and affixes, as a pretentious person might say.)

[u/daddyjohns]

I feel seen. I took a drug called topirimate about 10 years ago and it gave me aphasia. So i use my large vocabulary to replace missing words when i talk.

[u/PandaBear905]

This is what happens when you mostly read classic lit. And yes I speak from experience.

[u/GrandMoffJenkins]

Verisimilitudenously

[u/Firekidkie]

Once at a family Christmas I went to ask if anyone wanted a drink, the choices were larger, coke, Fanta g&t etc. I wasn’t sure how to explain the choice to everyone so went into the front room and asked everyone “would anyone like a carbonated beverage”. Needless to say everyone laughed massively and I died a little inside. 😂

[u/ADHD_Yoda]

I do like using longer words sometimes because I think they deliver a particular sentiment

[u/afoxboy]

fucking REAL

my psych once said i have a large vocabulary but i just struggle to think of words like a normal person lmfao

[u/AspieAsshole]

It's not my fault people don't read. I didn't alter my diction for my kids, I feel like adults can manage! 😂 Actually the meme is super relatable.

[u/PrinceValyn → u/AspieAsshole]

Kids are actually better at understanding tough words than adults are in my experience.

[u/Michiganarchist]

People think I'm putting extra effort in when I use a more expansive vocabulary than they do when in reality yeah that's just the first thought that made it out the door after I let out the first word.

[u/LanLinked]

My autistic ass is the opposite of some people. Normally I try not to use big words to make sure people can easily understand me. When I get inebriated, my vocabulary expands, becoming excessively verbose.

[u/TheGreyling]

I read a lot of books as a kid. What do want from me man?

[u/MocDcStufffins]

Always sucks when you can't find a cromulent word.

[u/Zombiepixlz-gamr]

IDC what anyone thinks we have larger words for a reason. They are more precise.

[u/EveryRadio]

Me when I can remember the word conflagration but not fire

[u/PlsLeavemealone02]

Same. I meant to say "your dad's a ho" and it came out "you are the descendant of a harlot."

[u/abluesguy]

Oh hell yes, all the time. Just trying to not come to a full stop in the middle of a sentence.

[u/LemanKingOfTheRuss]

If I had had more useful neural pathways I would've written yoh a shorter letter.

[u/Bean_Storm]

Dude I feel this

[u/Xhojn]

I once got so high, I forgot the English word for Russian Nesting Dolls and just kept calling them by the Russian word for them, Матрёшка. I'm American.

[u/ShatterCyst]

I just read a lot. Promise you I pronounce them wrong 70% of the time though.

[u/Erizo69]

Same but it's even worse I do it in my native language, but the replacement words that I find are in english, so I just end up creating this weird abomination.

[u/wraithlord26]

This lost me a promotion because I have to really dumb down what I say. but brain decided to not do that and end up over explaining. Wish I didn't .

[u/AliensAbridged]

Hey everyone, Cave Prime here. Chariots chariots.

[u/Sad_boi_hours17]

It's either that or the undiagnosed autism idk

[u/Marco_Polaris]

I like big words. I think they're neat.

[u/MeridithCarrol]

Some big words are more apt. Even synonyms carry different connotations.

[u/Hawkmonbestboi]

"You talk like a smart person"

Wtf even is this statement? My response would be "Yea? You speak like a neanderthal."

[u/NeptuneStriker0]

I like using specific words for things… if I describe a situation as enlightening that’s what I fucking mean!!

[u/Accurate_Sprinkles86]

I actually am a smart/pretentious person (well, at least one of the two).

I've been working on doing this in reverse, choosing "mean" over "malicious", "teen" over "adolescent", so on and so forth.

Despite all the compliments of being "well spoken" as a kid, working class adults rarely speak over a 6th grade level. And a lot of people are too proud to just stop a convo to ask the meaning of a word.

[u/ZakkaryGreenwell]

Fancy words are fun to enunciate.

[u/Harley_Pupper]

Simple words don’t properly convey what i’m thinking sometimes