# Words you don't expect in a text **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 19, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050 "2015-02-19T00:42:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/1 "2015-02-19T00:42:33Z")
I can get fired for even looking at my phone at work “for security reasons,” so I have it on tickle and steal a glance at who’s calling or texting. I may have a job interview coming up so Goody **zone** kept texting me about my wardrobe and its quality. Her last was an injunction to check my clothes “for incipient crappiness.” She has a basic flip phone but too much time on her hands, so this might have been the first time “incipient,” used and spelled correctly, has ever been sent from a dumb phone. Any words you’ve seen that surprised you? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/2 "2015-02-19T00:56:36Z")
I still surprise people by using “albeit” in casual conversation – something I did long before I found Unca Cecil. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/3 "2015-02-19T01:52:04Z")
Good example! Let’s expand this to “Words you don’t expect in a text or conversation.” ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/4 "2015-02-19T15:27:44Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Good example! Let’s expand this to “Words you don’t expect in a text or conversation.” \ I had to expand it. I’ve never gotten or sent a text. Once my cell phone told me I had gotten one but by all that’s Holy, I could not figure out how to retrieve it. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/5 "2015-02-19T16:18:48Z")
A friend of mine casually used “thrice” the other day. He caught himself and said with surprise, “I don’t think I’ve ever used that word in conversation before.” The context in which he used it was completely appropriate, and I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye if he hadn’t said anything. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/6 "2015-02-19T16:52:31Z")
I used “assuage” in a text to my wife the other night. She told me it was really hot when I use words like that. Pretty sure she was only saying that because she was safely in another state. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/7 "2015-02-19T17:03:34Z")
One day while mowing the lawn, I noticed that my toddler son was dropping his blocks out the front window of the house, into the space behind the hedge. I shut down the mower, walked over to the front door, stuck my head in and called out to my wife that our son was defenestrating his toys. A short time later she came outside and said that when she married the son of an English teacher, she knew I’d eventually use a word she’d never heard before, but she didn’t think it’d take that long. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/8 "2015-02-19T17:56:34Z")
I sent my sister running to the dictionary when I hit her with “perspicacious” yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/9 "2015-02-19T19:40:23Z")
Ms. Cups was commenting on my last girlfriend and used the word “lugubrious” which I’m pretty sure is the first time I’ve ever heard THAT word in casual conversation ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/10 "2015-02-19T20:20:17Z")
I wouldn’t expect to see the words “are” or “you” in a text message. ---
**Author:** ![trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/11 "2015-02-20T00:56:47Z")
Doesn’t exactly qualify, but here’s my story. When I first got my smart phone, I tried to type the word “nope.” One of the autotcorrect suggestions was “neophyte.” I didn’t use it, but now I sort of wish I had. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/12 "2015-02-20T02:48:31Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I wouldn’t expect to see the words “are” or “you” in a text message. In mine goodwife’s (hey, she’s the one with Miles Standish XVII for an uncle!) defense, in that text she did address me as “U.” ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/13 "2015-02-20T03:21:38Z")
“night” or “tonight” rather than “nite” and “tonite”. At least, if sent from a phone where ‘g’, ‘h’ and ‘i’ share the same key, compelling an annoying delay in typing the word out. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/14 "2015-02-20T22:28:01Z")
Got my first smartphone ten months ago. Early on, I was (laboriously) posting to the SDMB on it…some topic involving World War II. I don’t know how the auto-suggest is coded, but it seems to have some sort of learning algorithm based on usage, because for weeks afterward it constantly guessed my next word might be “Nazi.” “Honey, I’ll be home by Nazi.” "“Let’s invite the Nazi.” ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/15 "2015-02-20T23:03:04Z")
My sister sent me an Email using the word \* vis-à-vis\*. Which I found to be pretty impressive considering her normal vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/16 "2015-02-21T00:31:51Z")
I managed to use “polyorchidistic” in a text fairly recently, but this is with a friend where using such vocabulary is not unusual in the least. He’s pretty much the only one I go crazy with the vocab with. (As for “albeit,” I didn’t think that was that unusual a word. I hear it often enough in casual conversation that it doesn’t ping my radar as a “word power” sort of word.) ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/17 "2015-02-21T01:02:11Z")
I find it much faster to spell out words than use abbreviations. It’s just counterintuitive. ETA: spellcheck didn’t recognize that last word. Guess it’s not expecting it. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/18 "2015-02-21T22:51:50Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Got my first smartphone ten months ago. Early on, I was (laboriously) posting to the SDMB on it…some topic involving World War II. I don’t know how the auto-suggest is coded, but it seems to have some sort of learning algorithm based on usage, because for weeks afterward it constantly guessed my next word might be “Nazi.” > > “Honey, I’ll be home by Nazi.” "“Let’s invite the Nazi.” I did nazi that coming! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/19 "2015-02-21T23:23:11Z")
> [@HelenGawn](#): > > I find it much faster to spell out words than use abbreviations. It’s just counterintuitive. > > ETA: spellcheck didn’t recognize that last word. Guess it’s not expecting it. You _did_ mean to do that, didn’t you? … That “counterintuitive” was … counterintuitive. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050/20 "2015-02-22T00:13:32Z")
A friend once texted me that my wife was a “pulchritudinous lucubrator”, but he was just showing off. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-dont-expect-in-a-text/713050.md?page=2)