[stu666]

Originally Posted by pbradley

Over this last weekend, I've come across people who did not know what the words pithy or transgression meant. I understand this is kind of an condescending complaint, but I don't consider these tough words at all and these people in question are the kinds that I would expect better of.

What is the deal?

i don't know either, are they American words?

[Dr. Eugene Felikson]

 

I pithy the foo'

[phoenix]

perhaps their line of work does not allow them to extend their vocab very often, and they have a distaste for dictionary browsing.

who knows.

new words excite me.

[RdTv]

I seem to transform into a vertiginous gull upon gleaning a scattering of paltry idiom in which others seem none to vehement in tendering these days.

(Translation=I'm a sucker for useless synonyms and rarely-used adjectives.)

[radarmaker]

Originally Posted by RdTv

I seem to transform into a vertiginous gull upon gleaning a scattering of paltry idiom in which others seem none to vehement in tendering these days.

Heh. Woulda sworn that was Glice if I didn't look at yr name

[greedrex]

Originally Posted by phoenix

new words excite me.

what about "GLOBIBOULGA"?
are you hot yet?

[greedrex]

Originally Posted by RdTv

I seem to transform into a vertiginous gull upon gleaning a scattering of paltry idiom in which others seem none to vehement in tendering these days.

absolutely.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by radarmaker

Heh. Woulda sworn that was Glice if I didn't look at yr name

Spoken like a timorous harpy. Cant, I tell you.

Anyway. I think there's three ways of responding to words you don't understand - passive ("whatever"), curious ("what do you mean?") or passive-agressive/ agressive ("Why are you trying to alienate me, you cunt."). There's a context to everything, so if you're saying 'trangressive' [NB - this is not synonymous with 'transcendent'] or 'pithy' in a context of being a smug cunt (so, at a 6-year-old's birthday or something) then people are more likely to react agressively, regardless of whether or not they know what you mean. As some of you are aware, I'm a total word-whore, but I generally find that people pick up the meaning of words from context more than they do strict intention (hence catachreses like 'decimate' [which are often subsequently standardised, like 'decimate'])

Incidentally, I wouldn't say pithy was the same as cogent - I've always taken it to mean persuasive and alluring, with a degree of élan, while cogent, to me, belongs specifically to the fief (or ken, if you will) of formal (or philosophical) logic. But I've heard it more in terms of literature, "a pithy turn of phrase".

[Rob Instigator]

they are FUCKING MORONS. call them out on their ignorance damnit

I just sat through the inauguration, and one of our clerks, a college graduate, had no idea what we meant when we said "Tuskegee Airmen." a USA college graduate! DAMN!

[afterthefact]

I believe that people need to read more. Television is crammed full of words, but I wouldn't dare say that it is in any way an education in vocabulary; unless, of course, that is specifically what you have chosen to watch.

Granted, there is trash reading material as well, but it is far easier to find a book worth reading than a show worth watching.

[Rob Instigator]

pithy is "informatively pertinent"

[Rob Instigator]

even in trash reading though, the words used are varfied and not all the same words that television uses. for instance, on nearly any show, if someone uses a word like "alliterative" someone else is bound to make a comment like "Ohh big word," or "great word" to make the moron masses not feel too bad for not knowing what the word was, even though it is not pertinent to the plot to say "good word."

[floatingslowly]

Umberto Eco is the keeper of words I do not know.

[Rob Instigator]

words are powerful and important

[Danny Himself]

BIGG WORDZ = BIGG DIX

am i rite?

A good vocabulary might not make a person intelligent, still it is a very pleasant thing when people come across like they have good command of their own language. It also breaks from the monotonous chatter of every day life. Too much flowery language in inappropiate situations is too 'art gay', though. There is someone from the scripts department at work who tries talking to people like he is reading something off the dialogue of a play, complete with ridiculous body language. He's a pompous wanker.

[Dr. Eugene Felikson]

I can't stand pompous pricks who are always force feeding their vocabularies down everyone else's throat; just to show off. It has to be one of the absolute biggest pet peeves that I have.

[Rob Instigator]

learn somethin foooo!!!!

[Dr. Eugene Felikson]

Y do u think I reed so much?

 

[Rob Instigator]

I abhor the "soundbite mentality" that pervades our news-spreading infosystems.
That is why I like NPR news, and the McLaughlin Group, because they give themselves time to answer!