use big words whenever you can

[DanaC]

One thing that really winds me up, is when I use a word that isn't madly obscure, but which someone else hasn't come across before, and they act like I am somehow bizarre for knowing and using that word.

Tough to think of one off the top of my head, but I'm talking about a word like *thinks*...mitigate, or caveat.

There was this whole thing where the council pledged to rewrite all its public documents and communications into 'plain English'. Apparently, the word 'facilitate' is too obscure and should be replaced with 'assist' or 'help'....


Wtf? I mean...I realise they have similar definitions, but they aren't identical and they have specific uses.


I'm with Sundae on this. I don't have even the slightest problem with other people's vocabularies. I often like it when I hear a word that's unfamiliar to me, or a familiar word used in an unfamiliar way. It has never been a problem for me that some people don't have the same joy in words that I have and therefore didn't spend their childhood and adolescence chasing new words for their collection :p It only bothers me that some seem to have a problem with my vocabulary and word use.

ok.....serious rant done with....

On a lighter note: one of my students in their recent assignment mixed up the word 'theory' and 'theology'. So I was treated to a paragraph about the new 'scientific theology' that sprang up in the wake of Cook's voyages :p