Exegesis.
The few authors I've seen use it write like a completely different person, so they
use a lot of other archaic words too. In interviews, they seem perfectly normal :)
Despite having a personal rule about keeping my writing "conversational," I occasionally let a useful word slip through that I never actually hear spoken.
Case in point: "execrable." I imagine almost everyone here knows what it means, but how many of us even know how to pronounce it?
There are other terms and phrases pretty common in print that never come up in conversation. "Dude, did you see Bioshock? It has crisp graphics."
Other examples?
Exegesis.
The few authors I've seen use it write like a completely different person, so they
use a lot of other archaic words too. In interviews, they seem perfectly normal :)
I use a lot of archaic words in normal conversation and subsequently people think that I'm weird. :(
There are tons of words I have no idea how to pronounce. I recently got busted for mispronouncing "detritus" in conversation.
Alas.
Virulent.
choggle-pants
Epitome.
John Oliver drops "inexecrable" a lot on the Daily Show.
I'm the same way. I like my speech anachronistic. I especially enjoy those times when I'm able to whip out a really great, silver-dollar word through the course of a normal conversation. Once I got to say "apothecary". That was a good day.Originally Posted by Athryn
But over all, my writing vocabulary is not that different from my spoken vocabulary. I actually swear a lot more in writing, online and otherwise than I do in real life. I was raised in a Mormon family and to this day curse words just feel wrong in my mouth.
Right now, the word is apheresis.
I don't even know how to pronounce it...
'Albeit' doesn't get much use around here.
I am grateful to Colbert for making pompous talk cool again. No one's done that with such class since WF Buckley was serving hippies on TV.
Class? Buckley?
If you can't enjoy this (also partially available on youtube under buckley + vidal) then you don't know shit about comedy. Also, it's even funnier because it's not even intentionally pompous. It's the way he actually talks, in real life. Colbert has to work hard to create and maintain that attitude...Originally Posted by Unicorn McGriddle
Well, I tried to load the first clip that came up on youtube, and unfortunately it seems that my plan to discover whether I know shit about comedy has been foiled by someone who doesn't know shit about intelligible audio. Buckley and Vidal sounded like air traffic controllers playing Ghost over $9 walkie-talkies.Originally Posted by Lizard_King
I'm willing to grant you that there may be some humor in laughing at Buckley, but it's muted for me by the chilling fact that people take him seriously. And I'd use "class" to describe Madonna on national television before I'd think it in the bathroom about Buckley.
Well, it is from 1968 broadcast TV. But I had no problems with the quicktime version that I linked to first, I just threw in the second without knowing how bad they were.Originally Posted by Unicorn McGriddle
Well, I would wager we're in for another bloodbath on why Buckley can be enjoyed and appreciated at least as much as Madonna. I suggest for the sake of my Guitar Hero'd hand we just leave it focused on his amusing speechification, which exactly mirrors his prose style, and no comic has yet been able to top. Especially when he gets really pissed, loses his composure, and tells some "queer" he's going to "sock him in the mouth".I'm willing to grant you that there may be some humor in laughing at Buckley, but it's muted for me by the chilling fact that people take him seriously. And I'd use "class" to describe Madonna on national television before I'd think it in the bathroom about Buckley.
Quicktime's quick to cause me problems. Fuck Apple!Originally Posted by Lizard_King
Yeah, this being EE is not the only reason that I'd rather avoid this one, although I like how the way you phrase your summary assumes your conclusion as fact.Originally Posted by Lizard_King
I learned from the very best. It's like being agreeable without giving up the mantle of asshole. Also, he says "sock you in your goddamn mouth" which is awesome on even more levels. People don't write or say that enough.Originally Posted by Unicorn McGriddle
Sometimes I can only think of the wanky version of a word in a normal conversation. Yesterday in fact, I wanted to say something like "this removes the need for xyz" and the only thing that came to mind was "obviates the need for". Which was fine, because they knew what I was talking about, but I was going for "casual conversation" instead of "arrogant nincompoop".
Nincompoop - there's a word I'd never use in conversation that hadn't been preceded by 7 standard drinks.
Ubiquitous. I never used it, but YOU do. I'm a hater. Please stop.
Why? It's not like the word's use is . . .Originally Posted by Aszurom
"Sorry."
My signature.
"Yeah, I have condoms."
I'm sorry?
/joke
It bugs me when people use 'whilst' instead of 'while.' ><
Yeah, me too, and I get a lot of complaints about it.Originally Posted by Athryn
Today, it was preponderance.
I think you mean "inexorable". Which reminds me, I haven't yet dropped "exorable" yet in conversation. Or writing for that matter.Originally Posted by bloo
I wish I could think of something whimsical to say about antediluvian words that ofttimes crop up in my writing but are conspicuously absent from my commonplace speech patterns. Alas, the comedic muse escapes me.