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Words that you know that make you feel all clever

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    Words that you know that make you feel all clever

    The kind of things that you can drop in when other people are talking about stuff and you know what that is, can say so and feel smug for about ten seconds.

    "My cat is so weird, he only goes out like at dawn and at sunset, what's THAT about?"

    "He's 'Diurnal'."

    That kind of thing.

    #2
    Petrichor - the pleasing (to some) aroma from the ground when the sun comes out after a period of rain.

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      #3
      Epicaricacy - the delight in the misfortune of others.

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        #4
        Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
        The kind of things that you can drop in when other people are talking about stuff and you know what that is, can say so and feel smug for about ten seconds.

        "My cat is so weird, he only goes out like at dawn and at sunset, what's THAT about?"

        "He's 'Diurnal'."

        That kind of thing.
        I hate to break it to you Rogin....

        The word you need here is crepuscular.

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          #5
          Well, that's this thread f***ed.

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            #6
            I love 'petrichor' and, yes, have used it loads to impress.

            'Discombobulated' is easily my favourite word anyway and fits in this category. 'Apposite' is another one but I am not sure whether anyone thinks it clever.

            Of course, there are loads of technical ones but I am not sure that they just don't cross over to jargon. We don't have many in education - most of our jargon is initialisations or general management-speak bullsit - but 'pedagogy/pedagogical' is one I like to use as I was the only person to stick my hand up in the first lecture of my Education Studies degree and ask what it meant.

            Learnt 'andropause' today but I think I prefer 'manopause'

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              #7
              Never mind clever words.

              I worked with someone who needed the word "garner" explained to them.

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                #8
                Bailiwick. I use it all the time. And some say that Tom Clancy couldn't write literature.

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                  #9
                  Boustrophedon = ‘The Way of the Ox’

                  I get a chance to use about once a year in a typography class.

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                    #10
                    Tiquismiquis.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
                      Bailiwick. I use it all the time. And some say that Tom Clancy couldn't write literature.
                      But can you pronounce it?

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                        #12
                        Yes.

                        "Bailiwick".

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                          Well, that's this thread f***ed.
                          Soz. I'm anaspeptic, frasmotic, even compunctuous to have caused you such pericombobulation.

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                            #14
                            Peripatetic.

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                              #15
                              Bathycolpian.

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                                #16
                                Moiety.

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                                  #17
                                  Anosmic.

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                                    #18
                                    Definitions, folks.

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                                      #19
                                      That's not my contribution, BTW.

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                                        #20
                                        An anosmic has lost his/her sense of smell, NS

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                                          #21
                                          Thanks, UA. I think that Toby gave us that one in context quite recently. I'd like everyone to give us meanings along with the words.

                                          I'll go for phantasmagoria which means a sequence of dreamlike images.

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                                            #22
                                            Sesquipedalian - because brevity is preferable as a rule, as such NS can figure out the definition through opposites.
                                            Last edited by Diable Rouge; 09-06-2019, 21:02.

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                                              #23
                                              The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, where once you've learned a word for the first time, you suddenly hear it everywhere, which this thread made me think of because I met an anosmic ex-soldier this week. Had never heard the word before; I've since been casually using it in conversation with everyone I see.

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                                                #24
                                                Also, hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, which is the fear of long words. Whoever named that disorder must have been a real arse mustn't he?

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                                                  #25
                                                  Bailiwick - sphere of operations or area of interest. Or the jurisdiction of a sheriff or bailiff.

                                                  Most often used at work where instead of saying "Nothing to do with me, not my job" you can always say "I'd help you, but the DNS servers are not part of my bailiwick."

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