Heck, I’ve been criticized for using the word “dearth” instead of just “lack.” People have said, “Boy, aren’t you being pretentious?”
If you don’t know the difference between “dearth” and “lack,” then you’re in no position to make assumptions about another person’s motives in using those words.
So if a guy like Raj wants to use long words, then so be it. Sometimes, these words can be an affectation, but sometimes they’re just a lot more precise.
I know that I was the one who started the whole ‘big words=pretentious’ thing, but I do agree with you and JThunder on this point, to a degree. I think what I actually was objecting to on his website is the use of 10 words in a sentence where 5 would suffice. I know that’s not at all the same thing, but I have come to realize that that is what makes me cringe and think ‘talking just to hear himself talk’.
But what about Dwayne! And Rerun!
Hey Hey Hey!
Not at all. Just seeking more info. Thanks. And I didn’t know you were Indian.
Booooooo! Hiss!!!
(Funny how, in print, that line looks like the catch phrase of another black tv icon from the 70’s/80’s!)
Being that I have to read papers written in much the same tone, being in college and all, I have to read papers by usually quite intelligent people and muddle my way through a topic I already find hard to understand, and to add to that, I have to dissect the often boring tongue of academia.
And yes, at times it will reach points of idiocy where the writer will lose track of what he is writing and will begin to pontificate upon the droll and uninteresting yet in an attempt to make it less dreary and boring they will find pleasure in putting the English language to the test. This will of course tax the readers and test their command of the language.
Raj, on his website, falls into this several times. But I do as well, as I’ve put forth my best effort to grasp at the same effect, though I doubt any who are uninterested in the topic will be reading this post.
I think the best example of a person who disgusted me to this end is a fellow college student who once told me how he used Altavista’s babelfish to translate phrases into French for his school reports. Now that bothered me.
Sorry, all you Raj-hate-ahs. Raj just lead to his team to victory, and now he has immunity for next week (though, the point is moot since the ladies are still in their self-destructive karmic free-fall and will most likely be back in the boardroom next week).
Peace.