this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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Just recently I was in a conversation with a number of UK mainlanders and we had a debate over what "tories" meant, apparently disproportionately ordinarily it refers to a political party and it's not usual to use it as short for "territories" as I've used it (according to how the debate ended, it was half and half between them). And once again I'm reminded of how people feel to look back at their usage of a word/phrase over the years and cringe.

More tragically, me and a friend were embarrassed once upon realizing everyone was confusing "encephalitis" with "hydrocephalus" when talking to someone about their kid with hydrocephalus. Awkward because encephalitis is caused by HIV.

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[โ€“] modifier@lemmy.ca 40 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I was homeschooled and was basically educated by books, so I have a massively large vocabulary and I mostly use it correctly.

But pronunciation? I'm fucked.

[โ€“] pdxfed@lemmy.world 29 points 11 months ago (5 children)

You have "a massively large vocabulary" and couldn't think of anything other than "massively large"? ๐Ÿค”

[โ€“] tetris11@lemmy.ml 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I was raised by dyslexic wolves in a dixie cup full of turds and was basically educated by punches, so naturally my encyclopedic repertoire of words is aptly humbled by the plentiful platitude of my somewhat planar pronunciation.

[โ€“] Sagifurius@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

ah. youve read the mormon bible.

[โ€“] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Come on, that's still super better than all the super unimaginative kids who super use super as a superlative every super single sentence

[โ€“] CallumWells@lemmy.ml 6 points 11 months ago

I only use latives because of that.

[โ€“] modifier@lemmy.ca 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I take your point, but please consider: People who like to show off their checks thesaurus prodigious vocabularies are generally insufferable to be around.

[โ€“] pdxfed@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

I'll clap for prodigious and the insult!

[โ€“] ICastFist@programming.dev 4 points 11 months ago

My vocabulary is big huge!

[โ€“] chitak166@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Doesn't mean he needs to put on airs.

[โ€“] flubba86@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

My wife is the same. Very well read, but never learned the pronounciation of her fancy words.

Imagine the look on her face when I explained that the "hors d'oeuvres" she read about in books are the same thing as the "or durves" she was serving at the party.

I had the opposite, I always thought the word "grandiose" I saw in books was the word "grandeur" that I hear people say, so I always read "grandiose" as "grandeur" and thought "grandeur" was spelled that way. Whenever I heard people say "gran-di-ose" I would pipe up "uh, actually, it's pronounced grandeur, the s is silent".

[โ€“] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

Very similar to this, on multiple occasions I'd try to make macarons and accidentally make macaroons and vice versa.

[โ€“] Brad@beehaw.org 6 points 11 months ago

My son is a voracious reader, and he has the same thing. He's 15 now but still, every so often, he'll say a word and it'll take me a minute to figure out what he means.

[โ€“] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

With my accent I'm told this is a common issue for me. Not that I notice, even when pointed out.

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[โ€“] chitak166@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

I don't really value pronunciation as much as some do. If you understand what you're talking about, that matters more than being exposed and remembering the right pronunciation.

So many words we never hear people say, but we read them and have to know them.