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Ostentatious Words

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  • Ostentatious Words

    I was advised to avoid (or minimize?) such words in my writing. So this advice left me wondering...

    What is are the good reasons for using ostentatious words?

    Should broad vocabulary be limited when in non-fiction writing?

    I don't think I was trying to be showy. In early drafts, I may just use the word that comes to mind at the moment.

    What experiences do other people have about use of these words?

  • #2
    I think it often comes across as pretentious or grandiloquence*.



    *did ya see whut I did thar?

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    • #3
      I tend to use them without even trying to. Sometimes I'll use a word and not even realize it's not a commonly known word and it's embarrassing.
      "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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      • #4
        Totally depends on your audience.

        If you're writing for the scholarly types who have been educated far beyond their intelligence, then ostentate away!

        If you want to actually communicate, where people more easily grasp what you're trying to convey, KISS.
        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by mikewhitney View Post
          I was advised to avoid (or minimize?) such words in my writing. So this advice left me wondering...

          What is are the good reasons for using ostentatious words?

          Should broad vocabulary be limited when in non-fiction writing?

          I don't think I was trying to be showy. In early drafts, I may just use the word that comes to mind at the moment.

          What experiences do other people have about use of these words?
          I love it when people dig deep into their vocabularies. I learn from it.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
            I tend to use them without even trying to. Sometimes I'll use a word and not even realize it's not a commonly known word and it's embarrassing.
            You shouldn't be. The people who have tiny vocabularies should be embarrassed.
            Curiosity never hurt anyone. It was stupidity that killed the cat.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by mikewhitney View Post
              I was advised to avoid (or minimize?) such words in my writing. So this advice left me wondering...

              What is are the good reasons for using ostentatious words?

              Should broad vocabulary be limited when in non-fiction writing?

              I don't think I was trying to be showy. In early drafts, I may just use the word that comes to mind at the moment.

              What experiences do other people have about use of these words?
              If a word precisely conveys what you want to say, use it. If you make people use a dictionary once in a while, that's a good thing.
              Curiosity never hurt anyone. It was stupidity that killed the cat.

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              • #8
                For me, it depends on the winds of my whims. Sometimes I intentionally affect an oral conversational tone when I write. Sometimes I look for ways to employ the "Pittsburghese" of my region, even though I don't really talk that way. Sometimes I write with big words because I like the way they sound in my head.

                My favorite thing, I s'pose, is to freely intermingle simple and conversational with erudite and even obscure.
                Geislerminian Antinomian Kenotic Charispneumaticostal Gender Mutualist-Egalitarian.

                Beige Federalist.

                Nationalist Christian.

                "Everybody is somebody's heretic."

                Social Justice is usually the opposite of actual justice.

                Proud member of the this space left blank community.

                Would-be Grand Vizier of the Padishah Maxi-Super-Ultra-Hyper-Mega-MAGA King Trumpius Rex.

                Justice for Ashli Babbitt!

                Justice for Matthew Perna!

                Arrest Ray Epps and his Fed bosses!

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                • #9
                  I don't think there's anything wrong with someone showing off their fancy book learning. More important that the writing is clear and straightforward. Too often writers will use big words to obscure their actual meaning and make it harder for anyone to criticize their ideas. But if the meaning is easier to understand with a more elegant word choice, then use it.

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                  • #10
                    Also, there's a reason I don't read First Things.
                    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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                    • #11
                      I speak goodly enough.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                        I speak goodly enough.
                        You gots yerself a good edumakation in reform skewl

                        I'm always still in trouble again

                        "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                        "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                        "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

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                        • #13
                          Rogues post on Aug 5 went missing. Maybe this post will activate again.

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