I think the same thing. But you are kinder towards your fellow man than I am. I do think it is laziness. It’s a never-ending cycle of reaching for the lowest common denominator, but the LCD keeps going lower and lower and lower. Rather than trying to continually increase their vocabulary, too many people view the usage of uncommon words as pretentious. It’s easier that way.
Their what?
My wife saw this thread last night and asked me if I thought using the word cruddites (now I’m thinking it hte same way, MsWhatsIt) was pretentious. “In certain situations it could be,” I said, imagining someone saying, “Here’s your lunch box, Billy, I packed you a PB&J and some crudites!”
Then she told me we were talking about planning a catered event. That’s exactly the opposite of a situation where it’s pretentious: that’s the situation where it’s the most appropriate to use the word.
There’s no shame at all in using the exact right word in the right context. For my money you’re totally in the clear, and folks who object to the word are being needlessly defensive.
Because although it’s the correct word for a catered event, and although I’d be surprised at a caterer who doesn’t know the word, and although monstro is more or less in charge of catering this event, monstro is not a caterer. This is really a no-harm, no-foul situation.
Look it up.
If I ever parked my car in it, I’d wonder if you’d actually seen my garage. “Car Hole” is a perfect description of the poor, tiny, dilapidated thing. You’ve left me wanting to find an excuse to use the phrase. It rocks.
Regarding the OP, I’ve got nothing. Regarding crudités (the way Word’s spell checker wants to spell it), my household switches registers. We have normal family and friends and we have geeky family and friends. For normal friends, it’s usually a vegetable platter. With older relatives it’s a relish tray (carrots, celery, and green onions - add canned black olives if you have to fill more tray-holes). With geeky friends, it’s either ‘raw veggies’ or ‘crudity’. Saying ‘crudity’ makes it an inside joke and lets folks who have only read the word (or who have heard conflicting pronunciations) off the hook for pronouncing it.
Wait, there is a way to look up words I don’t know?
If you’re talking to people who you know (because they’re repeatedly told you) aren’t hip on certain terms that are associated with foodiness and party hosting, then yes. Why does this strike you as unreasonable?
Honest to God, I don’t get what is so controversial about speaking to be understood. That’s all this is about. It’s hardly a crime if you’ve assumed all this time that everyone knows what “crudites” are. The good thing is that now you know otherwise and can modify your language or not, if you so choose. People might get confused, people might think you sound pretentious, and other people might understand you perfectly well and might even think positively about your word choice. Big deal. It’s not worth arguing over anymore.
Well, I thought you were being more generic as we’ve moved onto carafes and you said I should be checking popular culture and the like. Of course, if someone specific that I routinely interact with is not familiar with specific terms, I wouldn’t shove it in their face. However, I would still argue that crudite doesn’t fall into the “it’s immediately obvious that this is a special foodie word” category. I am equally confused why it’s so controversial that what you might think is a specialized foodie term might not be, and using it isn’t rude. An the onus is not on me to make sure my vocab is never out of line with my listener’s vocab. It’s a give and take. I won’t mock you for not knowing; don’t think I’m rude for using it. Why is that so hard?
But that’s the whole point, we don 't know what the listener is familiar with and have to make assumptions. I don’t expect my mother to know what virtual memory is, or for my co-workers to know what sous vide means, but I do assume people know what a carafe is. I am not shocked that someone is not familiar with crudite, but I am surprised that someone thinks it is a pretentious word.
No luck.
I think it’s pretentious to describe a tray of vegetables at a work pot luck as crudites. Especially when it was bought last second at the grocery store and is served next to Betty’s green bean casserole. But on a menu, or in a more formal setting, it would be fine. Context is everything in this case.
You asked me to explain how someone might know whether a particular word would likely be foreign to someone they were talking to. So I said you can get such insight by paying attention to the frequency in which words turn up the most in popular usage.
This explanation would apply regardless of the situation, actually. Whether you’re talking to someone like monstro who has already told you in previous conversations that she doesn’t know a lot about food, or you’re talking to a perfect stranger whose with-it-ness regarding food is a question mark.
Check out the poll that spun off this thread. The majority of respondents are either unfamiliar with the word or know it but consider it uncommon. A lot of respondents thought they knew what it was, but have come to learn that they didn’t after all. And this is a board that is smarter than average. So I don’t know why you’d still argue that “crudite” isn’t a special foodie word. It’s certainly not the opposite.
Who has called you rude or intimated such? It sounds like you are getting unnecessarily defensive. No one personally cares about what you call cut-up veggies. And I’m not saying this snarkily.
Same here, I always try to temper my vocabulary to my audience.
Several jobs ago, I worked with a woman who was obviously trying to impress people with her vocabulary and used unusual words as often as possible, but she used many incorrectly and it was always jarring to listen to.
No one else seemed to notice?? Were they that unaware of the meanings?
Really? Well in post 103 I (as in anyone) was called a tool for merely using the word.
At this point there are so many posts and ideas all merging together, I can’t keep who said what for what reason straight. Ain’t that smart, I guess.
If I sound defensive it because I feel I need to defend why using certain words doesn’t make me a pretentious too. Maybe not by you, but enough folks in this thread, for certain. Enough people in that poll know the word to also indicate that it’s not crazy to use it and not be thought of badly if I do.
I’m tired of this- really. I’m one who never said anyone was foolish for no knowing the word. I just resent being called insensitive or arrogant if I use a word others might not know that seems common to me. And yes, that is what some folks are saying and it actually does make me a bit sad.
I apologize. That was rude for me to say that.
I’ve changed my position on this complex issue to be there is a time when it’s perfectly acceptable, and there is a time when it could be taken as pretentious.
raises hand I’m with you on the pronunciation in my head of crudité mimicking yours.
Granted, I also didn’t even know it meant vegetable tray (so monstro you are not alone!) I thought a crudité was a fancy way of saying appetizer crackers. Maybe there would be runny cheeses involved. I imagined the crudité part was a twisty cheesy cracker with herbs baked in.
Ignorance fought. (And I’ve occasionally watched the food network so you’d think I would know this…)
You did, post #162. You called people dense and insular for not adhering to your definition of “commonly understood terms”.
I never knew until today that crudites wasn’t a well-known word. I thought it was just, you know, a word. I would never have thought it wasn’t appropriate for use in a casual conversation with coworkers. Apparently this marks me as a pretentious foodie, despite the fact that there is nothing in this house for me to eat except stale Easter candy, and I will therefore be getting Taco Bell for dinner.
Also, with regards to the poll: the vast majority of respondents knew what the word meant, which makes it look pretty darn common to me. I can’t really speak to the intelligence level of the board, as I’m sure that no group of message board posters is going to say “We’re dumber than average! Really!”
Posters here have said I sound classless because I’ll freely admit to exchanging the word “jug” for “carafe”. And while this made tears gush from my eyes and sobs bubble up in my throat, I know that I will get through this in one piece. One day.
Let’s replay this.
I didn’t say that someone was dense or insular simply for not adhering to my definition for commonly understood terms. Most importantly, I absolutely did not call IvoryTowerDenizen rude or anything like it. I said that using a word like carafe, regardless of whether your audience understands you or not (that’s what is referenced by at “at all costs”), would mark you as the dense one. And I stand by that.
Do you have a reading problem? I did not refer to her as “ghetto”. I said SHE says she’s from the ghetto.
Learn to read, chile, and stop jumping to crazy-ass conclusions when you post.