use big words whenever you can

[jimhelm]

coz it makes you sound smarter.

[zippyt]

Zat so ??

[jimhelm]

dodally

[zippyt]

Diddly Do !!

[infinite monkey]

Yes, people should talk dumb and pretend to have a very limited vocabulary so as not to make the truly dumb actually look dumb.

The stupid need self-esteem too. Won't you think of the stupid?

[Sundae]

Hmmmmm.
I resemble this remark.

I admire people who ask me what a word means. A teacher asked me what obsequious meant earlier this year. She thought it was a great word. And in fact I had asked a teacher what it meant when I was 15 - and I remember it precisely because it was in a poem I wanted to read for my English Lit oral assessment. Although I've come across it since.

The flip side is I've sometimes been asked to "speak English!" when I've used a word I assume is in common usage, not something obscure only a crossword or Scrabble fan would know. I am speaking English. I just know more of it than you do.

Of course I never say that. But the inverse snobbery does put me in my place.
Which is why I adored this place ever since I fell through the rabbit-hole.

You might have meant something else entirely, Jim. or more likely been in a situation where your comment is justified.
You're no slouch on the vocab front after all.

I just have a large portion of fries on my shoulder.

[jimhelm]

I will not!

I won't

I shall not

I shan't

I just said, 'For the nonce' to a customer, and he understood it. I was pleased. Now, nonce is NOT a big word....but it comes from the same place as more embiggened words, so I'm counting it.

Mayhaps, what I really meant was talk like Shakespeare...

[infinite monkey]

Huh. Whut'd ya say? Thems too many werds.

[jimhelm]

contrarian~!!

[Sundae]

Okay.
You have me combobulated now.

[infinite monkey]

Conan the contrarian.

[zippyt]

Shakespeare Jim ,
Oh Lord is the world ready for that ???

[jimhelm]

Originally Posted by Sundae

A teacher asked me what obsequious meant earlier this year. She thought it was a great word. And in fact I had asked a teacher what it meant when I was 15 - and I remember it precisely because it was in a poem

Originally Posted by Steve Martin

Spoken intro:

Thank you. You know folks, when I was a kid, I was pretty close to my grandmother and she used to sing a song to me when I was about this high. It always meant something to me and I'd like to do it for you right now because it does have meaning in today's world even . . . all these years, you know those, even during the "hip drug days" you know when everybody was supposed to be so cool and everything had double meanings and this little simple tune would keep coming back to me and I think it kinda guided me through those years and I'd like to do this song for you right now, I think it might have a little meaning for you, so here it goes.

Song

Be courteous, kind and forgiving,
Be gentle and peaceful each day,
Be warm and human and grateful,
And have a good thing to say.

Be thoughtful and trustful and childlike,
Be witty and happy and wise,
Be honest and love all your neighbors,
Be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant.

Be pompous, obese, and eat cactus,
Be dull, and boring, and omnipresent,
Criticize things you don't know about,
Be oblong and have your knees removed.

Be tasteless, rude, and offensive,
Live in a swamp and be three dimensional,
Put a live chicken in your underwear,
Get all excited and go to a yawning festival.

O.K. everybody!

Be courteous, kind and forgiving,
Be gentle and peaceful each day,
Be warm and human and grateful,
And have a good thing to say.

Be thoughtful and trustful and childlike,
(O.K. everybody on this!)
Be witty and happy and wise,
Be honest and love all your neighbors,
Be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant.
(Let 'em hear you outside!)

Be pompous, obese, and eat cactus,
(Everybody sing!)
Be dull, and boring, and omnipresent,
Criticize things you don't know about,
Be oblong and have your knees removed.

(Ladies only)
Be tasteless, rude, and offensive,
(Now the men)
Live in a swamp and be three dimensional,
(Everybody)
Put a live chicken in your underwear,
Go into a closet and suck eggs.

[infinite monkey]

Ah, there's the rub a dub dub.

[jimhelm]

Originally Posted by Sundae

Okay.
You have me combobulated now.

this means you overstand?