# I Know a Word You Don't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2004, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-a-word-you-dont/267008 "2004-10-01T11:09:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-a-word-you-dont/267008/1 "2004-10-01T11:09:10Z")
So, it’s taken me all night to recall it. It means an author writing in the style of another. If someone replies in three minutes that they know it, they will not get a Christmas card from me. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-a-word-you-dont/267008/2 "2004-10-01T11:30:00Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > So, it’s taken me all night to recall it. > > It means an author writing in the style of another. > > If someone replies in three minutes that they know it, they will not get a Christmas card from me. Pastiche… ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-a-word-you-dont/267008/3 "2004-10-01T11:36:13Z")
Well, just don’t expect a Christmas card. If I knew you were so fluent it would have saved me a lot of time. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-a-word-you-dont/267008/4 "2004-10-01T11:37:54Z")
Sorry… I just have a vocabulary jam packed with useless trivia and out dated words. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-a-word-you-dont/267008/5 "2004-10-01T14:55:55Z")
> [@Krisfer the Cat](#): > > Pastiche… Also my first throught on mouseover. I won’t be watching my mailbox! ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-a-word-you-dont/267008/6 "2004-10-01T14:56:31Z")
So would a nut that tastes like a different nut be called a **Pastichio**? Or is that a puppet show done in the style of a different puppet show? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-a-word-you-dont/267008/7 "2004-10-01T17:53:55Z")
I was also thinking pastiche, but I wasn’t certain that this is what you were going for. Interestingly, a friend of mine told me that pastiche doesn’t properly refer simply to an author writing in the style of another, but I can’t remember what she said about it. (goes to search the web) Ah yes, now I remember. Here are the key points. 1. Pastiche can be used in contemporary speech to refer to an author writing in the style of another author. 2. The term can also refer to other works of art done in another artist’s style. 3. Hi Opal! 4. Pastiche is generally considered distinct from parody. In parody the intent is generally to mock or make fun whereas pastiche is more respectful. 5. The original meaning of the word (and the one my friend was talking about) is a hodge-podge of different styles. I think that this is the predominant usage when referring to architecture, but not so much with literature. 6. The word comes to us from French _pastiche_, but the French got it from the Italian _pasticcio_, which meant a pie made of many different ingredients. _The above mostly came from the Wikipedia_