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Thread: Words you write and never speak

  1. #1
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    Words you write and never speak

    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?

  2. #2
    New Romantic
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    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 :)

  3. #3
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    I use a lot of archaic words in normal conversation and subsequently people think that I'm weird. :(

  4. #4
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    There are tons of words I have no idea how to pronounce. I recently got busted for mispronouncing "detritus" in conversation.

  5. #5
    New Romantic
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    Alas.
    Virulent.

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    6th Grade Spelling Bee Loser World's End Supernova
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    choggle-pants

  7. #7
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    Epitome.

  8. #8
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    John Oliver drops "inexecrable" a lot on the Daily Show.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Athryn
    I use a lot of archaic words in normal conversation and subsequently people think that I'm weird. :(
    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.

    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.

  10. #10
    Neo Acoustic
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    Right now, the word is apheresis.

    I don't even know how to pronounce it...

  11. #11
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    'Albeit' doesn't get much use around here.

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    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.

  13. #13
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    oh fuck what am i doing

    Class? Buckley?

  14. #14
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    OH YES

    Quote Originally Posted by Unicorn McGriddle
    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...

  15. #15
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    Class? In the same class as George Will.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lizard_King
    If you can't enjoy this (also partially available on youtube under buckley + vidal) then you don't know shit about comedy.
    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.

    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.

  16. #16
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    Quote 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.
    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.
    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, 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".

  17. #17
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    Why instead of whether, huh?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lizard_King
    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.
    Quicktime's quick to cause me problems. Fuck Apple!

    Quote Originally Posted by Lizard_King
    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
    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.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unicorn McGriddle
    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.
    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.

  19. #19
    No longer plays GeoSpark Social Worker
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    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.

  20. #20
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    Ubiquitous. I never used it, but YOU do. I'm a hater. Please stop.

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aszurom
    Ubiquitous. I never used it, but YOU do. I'm a hater. Please stop.
    Why? It's not like the word's use is . . .

  22. #22
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    "Sorry."

  23. #23
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    I like the way the urge to answer questions like this, can lead me to new websites - this time to Merriam-Websters:
    execrable
    exegesis
    detritus
    virulent
    epitome
    apheresis
    ubiquitous

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    My signature.

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    "Yeah, I have condoms."

  26. #26
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    I'm sorry?

    /joke

  27. #27
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    It bugs me when people use 'whilst' instead of 'while.' ><

  28. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Athryn
    I use a lot of archaic words in normal conversation and subsequently people think that I'm weird. :(
    Yeah, me too, and I get a lot of complaints about it.

    Today, it was preponderance.

  29. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by bloo
    John Oliver drops "inexecrable" a lot on the Daily Show.
    I think you mean "inexorable". Which reminds me, I haven't yet dropped "exorable" yet in conversation. Or writing for that matter.

  30. #30
    New Romantic
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    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.

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