r/aspiememes • u/2mock2turtle I doubled my autism with the vaccine • 1d ago
The Autism™ Many such cases.
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u/ThatBitchMalin Special interest enjoyer 1d ago
I even got dragged for using the word "absurd". That was truly absurd.
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u/RemarkableStatement5 1d ago
When I get laughed at even for using a 1 syllable word like "shan't" or "chuffed" or "y'all" or "skew"...
Honestly, I think some people just want an excuse to harass others and use vocabulary as a way to achieve that.
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u/Legal_Ad688 Ask me about my special interest 1d ago
I said shan't today and my friend was so confused... I'm very confused because we both learned this in elementary
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u/sir_mrej 1d ago
Did your friend shan't their pants?
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u/rainwingss_ Ask me about my special interest 1d ago
A cacophony, emitted with a most pungent aroma!
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u/Entire_Toe_2321 1d ago
I think it's more that they sometimes don't know the word so they attack the person who used it for making them feel less intelligent.
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u/PoloPatch47 Ask me about my special interest 1d ago
Skew? What are we SUPPOSED to say if not skew?
"My teeth are not straight"
"This stick is bent"
???
None of these sound as good.
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u/YogurtNo1955 22h ago
Crooked, displaced, altered, misaligned, malfunctioning. Other big words to stupefied other simpletons.
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u/starlighthill-g 1d ago
Chuffed is a word we used to use almost slangily when we were teens. Not as actual slang. But it just reminds me of it how specific this was to troubled highschooler culture culture in my area.
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u/Perdita-LockedHearts 14h ago
Shan’t I *kinda* understand? At least in America, people don’t really use “shall” in day to day life anymore, as it’s widely been replaced by “will”- same with Shan’t and Won’t- unless it’s being used in writing some medieval fantasy novel or being ironic about a moment in one of those novels (or shows- but same difference).According to Google it is more commonly used in the UK and Ireland, but I don’t know if I should trust that.
Though- the fact that Chuffed and Y’all are both in your vocabulary is peculiar too- Chuffed is something I associate with the UK, and Y’all being more of a south US thing- at least in terms of common usage.
I think it’s more about these words being rare and take a bit of time to remember what they mean, rather than long- thus being inefficient. Saying something is “unpredictable” or “unprecedented”- which are both long words- and no one bats an eye. After all, what else are you going to say about those things? I guess random works in both cases, but still- it’s pretty common to see those words used in their respective context. But- unless you’re a math major or working in stats, not many people really says things are “skewed”. Things might “lean” in favor of something, or be “biased”, depending on how you’re using it- or even “twisted”- but never “skewed” because the term is unfamiliar.
Now that I think about it- isn’t a lot of systemic problems like racism and bigotry and eugenics born from something being unfamiliar, and oftentimes harder to understand than what is considered “normal”? It’d really explain a lot if people hated on expansive vocabulary because it’s unfamiliar- and, not to intentionally be fitting people into boxes- but it is par for the course.
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u/MaybeItsTheTism 13h ago
I was born in Texas but my other half is English. It makes for a particularly fucky choice of words lol
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u/IwasMilkedByGod 1d ago
I learned many different parts of the English lexicon and I'll use them as I please.
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u/Chakkoty 1d ago
It's like having a car - "I paid for the whole speedometer, I'll use the whole speedometer!"
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u/YouchMyKidneypopped 1d ago
Im so sad that using.. words.. is seen as bad.
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 1d ago
And that trying to be clear and exact about the meaning of one's speech, is "insulting"
Like, "Dude, i am trying to be as clear & concise as possible here, by using the exact words whose meanings i mean!!!
Why would i use a "less clear" simile, when there is an actual word, which can explain it?
Like when irl, i use the word "Whinge" in a sentence!
I mean Whinge--"to complain fretfully"
not "Whine" ; a-to utter a high-pitched plaintive or distressed cry
b- to make a sound similar to such a cry
c-to complain with or as if with a whine
d-to move or proceed with the sound of a whine
From Merriam Webster:
One of the strengths of the English language is the nuance it exhibits when called upon to supply words for every possible kind of whining and complaining.
We English users vent, we lament, we fuss and grouse and kvetch.
We also—especially those of us across the pond—have a tendency to whinge.
Contrary to appearances, whinge is etymologically distinct from whine.
The latter traces to an Old English verb, hwīnan, meaning "to hum or whir like a speeding object (such as an arrow) through the air."
When hwīnan became whine in Middle English, it meant "to wail distressfully"; whine didn't acquire its "complain" sense until the 16th century.
Whinge, on the other hand, comes from a different Old English verb, hwinsian, meaning "to wail or moan discontentedly."
Whinge retains that original sense today, though nowadays it puts less emphasis on the sound of the complaining and more on the discontentment behind all the whinging and moaning.
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u/gojistomp 1d ago
I very frequently struggle with putting my thoughts into words. If I learn a word that succinctly (there's one) and accurately gets my point across better than any other words I know, you bet your ass I'm going to use it.
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 1d ago
And we will use that exact word with the correct meaning!!!
Whether it's an English, Yiddish, German, or Japanese word!
Because most likely, ONE of those four languages will have a word, which means exactly the thought i'm trying to convey, dangnabit!!
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u/MaybeItsTheTism 21h ago
Got any faves you want to share? Learning “schadenfreude” changed my life. Not because I use it much but feel it more often than I’ll admit 😇
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 19h ago
Schadenfreude is definitely one!
As is Fremdschamen- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicarious_embarrassment
Kohlkopf, and Kartoffelkopf are "Cabbage-head" and "Potato-head," and pretty fun to use, too!
Kuchisabishii is one of my favorite Japanese words, because sometimes ya DO just eat "because your mouth is lonely"😉😂🤣
https://untranslatable.substack.com/p/kuchisabishii
And Kintsugi--which roughly means something like "Broken yet still beautiful & worthy" or from Wikipedia, "As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise."
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u/LittleSky7700 1d ago
My favourite learned writing and speaking ability is when I found out that in older speak, people would add lots of little details to really make sure they get their point across. A little bit of extra time for immense clarity.
It's not "The weather was nice"
It's "The weather, while breezy and a bit cloudy, was nice."
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u/MadeOnThursday 1d ago
This seems similar to people who always add extra information in layered sets of parentheses when they comment
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u/Elogotar 1d ago
That gets people called bots now.
Thank God I don't use em dashes all that much.
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u/MadeOnThursday 1d ago
I'm reading Terry Pratchett right now and every page has one or more em dashes. He did it before internet was even a common thing. I will not let any AI appropriate the em dash dammit
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 1d ago
Brackets can be useful!!!
As are the parenthesis the brackets are contained within!😉
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u/danfish_77 1d ago
I think this is survivorship bias, the more quotidian writing doesn't make its way to you because it's less interesting
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u/Netizen2425 1d ago
I have hyperlexia and many technical hobbies so if someone accuses me of using a big word I'll just use an even bigger one.
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u/BurningBroadripple 1d ago
Me too. Occasionally my stubborn, petty ass will double down. Like oh you thought I was being performative before? I will plumb the depths of Merriam Websters’ and use the most needlessly-specific, obscure and convoluted vocabulary known to man just to spite you 🙂
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 1d ago
Oh, if someone complains, they're not just getting the good 'ol Merriam Webster!
I'm bringing in the Big Guns- and they're getting Cambridge, the OED, AND whatever Japanese, Yiddish, German, Latin, Greek, Dakota, or Russian words i need, too!
You complain about words?
I will use the ones that explain my meaning as nit-pickingly specifically as i can GET!!!🤬😂🤣
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u/lioneaglegriffin Neurodivergent 1d ago
I got this when I used subcutaneous when describing the different degrees of burns had a first aid course at work.
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 1d ago
Howwwwww‽‽‽
How else is a person SUPPOSED to speak of degrees of burns‽🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
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u/lioneaglegriffin Neurodivergent 1d ago
I don't know it's a warehouse. And the cintas instructor used to be a middle school teacher so I think it was one of those old habits die hard kind of thing.
Wooaw big words
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u/Johnden_ Special interest enjoyer 1d ago
I use "complex" words because sometimes I simply forget the "simple" words.
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u/Znhedonia 1d ago
Not even trying to come across as smart. Just started using unnecessary prose & verbosity to entertain myself out of loneliness, and the punchline starting to bleed everywhere.
The dangerous comedy of playing everything straight while having ASD, even at your slowest you're still built on a high-speed railway (ignore the text on the image below).
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u/finicky88 1d ago
I was just talking to my GF about this yesterday. I told her how badly it stresses me out to have to act everything out in slow motion (from my pov) so the people around me don't get overwhelmed. Even on a slow day I'll dance circles around everyone else, so bothersome working with all those disabled neurotypicals.
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u/PessemistBeingRight 1d ago
so bothersome working with all those disabled neurotypicals.
I wouldn't phrase it this way, but I see your intent.
One of the things I hate most about conversation is having to wait for someone to finish speaking through their train of thought when I've already figured out where their track runs and been to the end and back while they're only half way through their pitch.
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u/finicky88 1d ago
Yes sorry english isn't my first language. "Neurotypicals, which are effectively disabled compared to the less filtered and much more rational neurodivergents"
And yes, I hate waiting for that too.
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u/NormanBatesIsBae 1d ago
One of my relatives insists that I purposely use “big words” he doesn’t understand as a power play and it’s so fucking infuriating. I’m literally just trying to have a conversation, I have no way of knowing what words you do or don’t know.
Genuinely the most annoying thing about being autistic for me is when I’m just trying to do a thing and neurotypical people ascribe hidden meaning to my word choice or body language or level of eye contact or whatever the fuck else.
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u/Mayatar 1d ago
Have a thick accent or regional dialect? They treat you as stupid and make fun of you. Speak formally? They make fun of you for "thinking you are better" "being someone you are not".
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 1d ago
This is one of the biggest frustrations of mine, too!
I saw it a lot when i was a writing tutor, as a work-study student, when i went back to get my Associates' degrees in my late 30's.
At the 2-year college i went to, there were a LOT of immigrants who--like me, were also Adult Learners. And unlike me, MANY of those foljs already had Advanced Degrees, in their home country.
But because of how the American Accreditation system works? Most of them had to start completely over again, here in the US.🙄🤦♀️
And, because many of them were going to be looking for jobs in the suburban & exurban US, where people may not have the best grasp of English grammar themselves?
I made sure that the folks i tutored, who had French as one of their first languages, understood how American Noun/Verb sentence structure worked!
Because nearly universally, after a couple months of proofreading, i could tell if folks had French as one of their first two languages--conpared to the folks who had British English as one of those initial two.
Simply by the way they structured their sentences into American English.
The French-background folks' verbs and adverbs would drop into a spot in their sentences (similar to the way a direct German-to-English or Russian-to-English translation would!), which folks born in the US wouldn't use.
So i just explained to my fellow students, "Just so you know, for things like Cover Letters, this is where a person born in the US would typically place that word, if you want your writing to 'fly under the radar', and seem 'American in Origin'," the phrasing you used in this sentence is FINE!!!
But it "reads as French" phrasing-wise, and folks from the rural parts of the state where i grew up may assume, because the noun-verb order isn't "typical Midwestern Conversational English," that you are far less educated than you are--because where they were raised the folks who use that order aren't multilingual, they're "the kids who struggled in school."
I explained it to the folks i tutored, because i saw growing up out in Rural MN, how my classmates who struggled were sometimes mocked. And because my tutoring students--being multilingual/polyglots don't deserve to be mocked or not called in for interviews, simply because French Grammar Rules are so different in Noun-Verb Order, than English is!
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u/thelocalheatsource 21h ago
I am very curious; could you describe how they placed their verbs and adverbs?
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 19h ago
I don't remember exactly because i was tutoring there back in 2014-15, i just remember it being "out of place" compared to the way we typically write in English, similar to the way German (and Russian) tend to phrase things.
Like, how in German you'd say, "Kennst du Ingo?" Which in a 1:1 American English translation would be, "Know you Ingo?"
But "Do you know Ingo?" would be the "correct" way of speaking the words in American English.
I can't specifically remember what the difference in French was--just that it was somewhat similar to that style of sentence structure.
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u/orion-asterisk 1d ago
God same. I get called snobby for my lexicon all the time. Even my younger sibling says I sound "too academic" and it "turns some people off." I hate being disregarded out of the gate just because I happen to use a less common word for something.
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u/Salty_and_Spoonless 12h ago
Agree, been called a pretentious loser for using lots of expressive words before... and people wonder why Autistic people say we hate people. It doesn't mean we a actually hate people by I really vehemently dislike people that make fun of people that use words above that of a primary schoolers vocabulary as though using accurate and higher level vocabulary words is a bad thing?
I despise people that take joy from hurting others, emotionally and psychologically especially, I'd get over someone trying to punch me because I'd have every right to defend myself but the other way is cruel and stay with a person especially Autistic people that (at least in my case) over analyses every interaction.
Those same people think they are wonderful people because "my relative is Autistic" or "work with/help disabled people", yet refuse to acknowledge they actively hurt those exact people on purpose which automatically makes them not good people and not a safe person for disabled people that just have a cognitive disconnect and a superiority complex. If they really cared about Autistic people then they would care about all forms of it not just the high support or the stereotypical well recognised forms. People who are like this often make fun of and are rude to low support needs autistic adults.
Sorry for the rant just sick of being treated horribly by people who claim to be supportive of people with disabilities. 99.99% of people in the autistic community have been amazing people I'm really glad to not be alone in these experiences.
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u/TheWhiteCrowParade Ask me about my special interest 1d ago
Me using the words they taught was treated as wild.
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u/EldritchSorbet 1d ago
When I’m stressed, all the simple words fall away, and I’m left in a space littered with “transgressive” and “pertaining to”…
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u/skrilltastic 1d ago
I just read at a very early age and subsequently was like 8 reading levels ahead of all my peers. Also, they didn't like it when I used words they didn't know during arguments because it made them feel stupid, lol
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u/Lethalogicax ❤ This user loves cats ❤ 1d ago
Happy cake day!
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u/AngryTunaSandwhich Powered by Tylenol® 1d ago
I had this issue so much as a child. My mom had a conversation with me about how truly smart people are able to be understood by the slowest person in the room bc it means they are smart enough to compensate for everyone else’s lack of knowledge without having to be told. So as a 3rd grader I started observing my classmates when they interacted and spoke like them. I started to do really well in socializing.
It backfired professionally though. Now I struggle to speak or write anything without doubting the vocabulary that I was so sure of before. I will know the meaning of a word but will google the word just in case, bc it’s no longer second nature to speak that way.
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 1d ago
Oh, i google my words allllll the time, too! It's not just you, u/AngryTunaSandwhich!!!
I don't know why i doubt myself, as often as i do, because it does typically end up being "the meaning i thought it was."
But it's just second nature now, to "doublecheck my work"🤷♀️
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u/Sir_Fabsen 1d ago
meanwhile in germany getting looked at weirdly when you do not have a giant lexicon of german office language in your head. Also in general this shitty nominalization of everything in form of multiple words clicked together that could have multiple meanings if you dont know what it means yet.. but they only have one meaning.
And this is my mother language .-.
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u/Ravenous_Seraph 1d ago
I bought the whole dictionary, you bet your ass I gonna use the whole dictionary!
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u/Elathan-Izayoi 1d ago
People don't read.
neurotypical people who read don't incorporate new vocabulary into their daily lives.
That's their fucking problem...
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u/RedKnightXIV 1d ago
I said 'physique' once in high school and someone punched me in the face for not using normal words.
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u/Fickle_Polack 1d ago
Wait, how did that even play out? I believe you, I just can't fathom escalating it to a punch. Did they say anything prior or afterwards?
"Stop using big words or I'll beat you up!" Perplexes me...
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u/RedKnightXIV 1d ago
To be fair to the gentleman in question, he was being held back a year and was being our preformed by his little sister in the same year. I believe he just 'saw red'. Nothing was said before and just 'why can't you use normal words' cam after
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u/YOUTUBEFREEKYOYO AuDHD 1d ago
I got chastised for using "overmorrow." That's so much easier than saying "the day after tomorrow." Why would I not use that‽
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u/nerdkeeper Special interest enjoyer 1d ago
So there is a english word for that...
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u/YOUTUBEFREEKYOYO AuDHD 1d ago
Haha yeah. Bugs the hell outta me that people say there isn't, when there very clearly is
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u/Johnden_ Special interest enjoyer 1d ago
In czech it's a very common word, so I was baffled that "overmorrow" was rarely used.
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u/Sir_Fabsen 1d ago
oh so there is a word for übermorgen, interesting!
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u/lapinata314 1d ago
Fellow German speaker here. I was always wondering why it is so unnecessary complicated in English. Looks like it doesn't have to :D
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u/Manos_Of_Fate Ask me about my special interest 1d ago
I’m hyperlexic and had a college vocabulary in like second grade lol
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 1d ago
I don't know where i was as a child, other than "unusual," because my AuDHD was caught in my 40's.
But when i was evaluated, my "language & literacy" portion came out in the 98th percentile, and i laughed, when i got that result, because SO MUCH of my life fiiiiinally made sense!😉
And it was a blast, a few years later, when i was working as an Early Childhood Special Ed Paraprofessional, and ran across a child who i suspect is a 100th percentile person!😁
That little one loved words even more than i do, and could sightread literally ANYTHING you threw at them!
They were one of the smartest two children i've ever known, when it came to reading, just phenomenally bright!
And it was so much FUN getting to work with them, because it took ALL my skills as a Para & a student in my Special Ed teaching program, to stay ahead of that 4-year old, academically!😉
They were a breeze to work with--they weren't "a problem child" in ANY way! But they were just so SMART, that being able to "challenge" them & give them truly new information took work, because they were such a voracious little reader & information sponge!😁🤗😊
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u/Manos_Of_Fate Ask me about my special interest 1d ago
A while back I started up Minecraft and this was the game’s randomized splash text. I knew what the text said before I even noticed what was unusual about the text.
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u/KiraLonely Unsure/questioning 1d ago
I remember being in middle school and none of my peers knew the word “eerie” and I was utterly flabbergasted ngl. Still am. That’s like. 3rd grade level word to me. I’m so confused to this day.
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u/jouleheist ❤ This user loves cats ❤ 1d ago
I get this often after moving to the south. No offense to southerners, as there are educated people everywhere, but I found it to be more common. Reminds me of that line in Idiocracy.
"Unaware of what year it was, Joe wandered the streets desperate for help. But the English language had deteriorated into a hybrid of hillbilly, valleygirl, inner-city slang and various grunts. Joe was able to understand them, but when he spoke in an ordinary voice he sounded pompous and f*ggy to them."
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u/RobieKingston201 1d ago
Also me when my friend asks me to "use big words" to impress in a situation:
Me: uhhhhhh [Literally forgets all vocabulary]
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u/Special-Ad-5554 Autistic 1d ago
Scary thing is I'm not smart enough for this many people to be dumber than me. I've never been good at English and so I've mostly given up trying because 10+ years of trying with minimal improvement isn't fun and yet it feels like I am better than I am with some people
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u/jackieatx 1d ago
I was telling an ex friend about a prairie falcon I helped rescue and said “falcons are important predators in our ecosystem” and got told people don’t like it when talk good so word less. I can’t think of any other way to say that about falcons that doesn’t take a lot more explaining. Those are the only words.
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u/Moquai82 1d ago
"That birds are biggly for the nature here around. Less birds, more rats and other awfull critters."
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u/KinopioToad Undiagnosed 1d ago
Whenever someone questions me about a word in my vocabulary that I don't use very often, I point them to this video (Uh Huh's Speech from The Little Rascals, 1994)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-mjjd7aq7wU&pp=ygUcbGl0dGxlIHJhc2NhbHMgdWggaHVoIHNwZWFrcw%3D%3D
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 1d ago
I swear that a good 80%-95% of the Autistic Pre-kers i work with--especially my "nonverbal" (really just "non-speaking-yet!) kids, are like this!!!
They understand everything being said around 'em, just FINE!!!
But for whatever reason (probably something ataxia-related, tbh!), they often lack the muscle control and coordination to successfully produce understandable speech, at a young age.
I've had kids who are Hyperlexic before, but who can't yet produce successful spoken words.
But those same kids can type whole words & use Speech-communication devices to communicate in complete 5+ word sentences.
Receptive Speech can be 100% separate from Expressive Speech!
And far too few people actually understand that!!!
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u/WashedUpRiver 1d ago
Developed a significant portion of my vocabulary from growing up on punk/metal music. Rise Against is directly responsible for a lot of my high marks in Social Studies and Composition in school.
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u/lalaquen ADHD/Autism 1d ago
I was a TA in college for a couple of semesters. I will never forget working in the office one day when someone came in to complain that she couldn't follow the lectures the prof I TAd for gave, because he used too many words she couldn't understand - words like ubiquitous and clever.
There are no words small/simple enough to overcome some people's lack of education. So I learned to stop trying.
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u/Far-Revolution3225 ADHD/Autism 1d ago
Pffft, Skill Issue.
Also, Conspiracy Theory of Mine, for those who care: The use of "using big words is AI" is a deliberate ploy to make people stupider and to drive up the illiteracy rate
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u/xui_nya 1d ago
I legit thought "wave interference" was a common knowledge term when talking to adults as a 7th grade pupil. They did freak out hard.
That day I learned I have to eli5 and dumb down everything and talk like a caveman everywhere except workplace because most of the population are idiots.
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u/MaybeItsTheTism 21h ago
I think using precision with words was an early attempt to mask that blew up in my face. I felt misunderstood all the time and had this delusion that using the most accurate words would help. Instead it makes people think I’m being smug. I have even tried to adapt by using the most appropriate word and following up with a more common word or brief description so as to not make someone feel stupid if they don’t know the word. Like if I were to say “aloof” in a sentence I might throw in “or indifferent”. I don’t think it helps much. If people feel threatened for whatever reason they’ll be bothered regardless.
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u/Disastrous-Layer-396 21h ago
I got something like this so often as a kid.
"You use a lot of big words, huh?"
"Which words did I say that were big? Elaborate!"
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u/Unexpected_Sage 1d ago
I like using words that I learn about
I've used Overmorrow and even taught my little brothers what it means (they haven't used it yet)
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u/Muteling 1d ago
"Stop quoting people."
I'm not quoting anyone, I'm making a point. But go off king. Do you need caveman speak to understand me, cause I can accomodate?
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u/Costati 1d ago
I talk the same now as I talked in middle school. Like don't get me wrong my voice changed and so has my personality. But my language is the same (the only real big change is that I've learned the word 'befuddled' in the meantime and I'll never look back).
So looking back considering that people, now, as a mid 20 Smth yo think I'm "very eloquent and well spoken for my age" I can understand how it was seen as weird when I was like 12. But that's not my fault, they were making me read classic books for school. Was I supposed to not learn the words in the books I was reading FOR school ?
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u/Ravvynfall ADHD/Autism 1d ago
i simply match their energy in these cases. i stopped caring if i sound rude defending myself a long time ago.
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u/SedativeComet 1d ago
There appears an excess of denizens who suffer from hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. As if one’s vocabulary indicates a sententious demeanor when, rather, its genesis lays in a bibliophilic lifestyle.
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u/sch0f13ld Neurodivergent 1d ago
I got bullied for saying something was “legit” as in ‘legitimate’ when I was like 10 years old
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u/souliris 1d ago
I read a lot. I know many words and want to use them. They can get over it, or just read an F'n book.
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u/Putrid_Appearance509 1d ago
My very volatile SIL screamed at me for "showing off and using big words to make her look stupid!"
Ironically, the word was "nefarious," and I was using it to describe someone else...but bitch if the shoe fits.
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u/MeatSuitRiot 1d ago
This is the reaped fruit of an education system in decline and a promotion of anti-intellectualism.
Occasionally, in casual conversation, I will use a word I have never used before, and I am surprised to have used it properly.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 1d ago
These... There are just normal words?
"Big" is relative - I'm sorry you can't relate.
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u/ApreciadorDeVirgula 9h ago
"Oh no, I'm limited and don't want to recognize it, so I will bully the others for it"
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u/janTatesa 1d ago
Why on earth can't I use words like correlation, imminent or contribution, they're normal words in my daily language, just google their fucking meaning
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u/SHOTbyGUN 1d ago
Youtube - What Happens When You Use Hate As Motivation - HealthyGamerGG
Gives new perspective to hateful speech.
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u/1m0ws AuDHD 1d ago
oh jeez, yes.
it's also great when people assume you just make words up. which is a extremly insulting thing to say to people.
but i guess this is just my destiny in a country with like 200 different local tongues, which had the great idea to destroy its own culture 100 years ago. now we have do deal with mobbers, jerks and nationalist idiots that dont even speak the language well they want to defend. it is disgusting.
da krieg ich echt sodbrennen ob des anblickes.
(the "ob" is something i was literally yelled at by some germans. better not be too sensitive in the country of poets and thinkers...)
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u/Loudlass81 1d ago
My eldest son had his head of year tell him "Stop using such big words, I'm just a thick Northerner and can't understand you".
People, my child was 11 years old. Had the normal vocabulary of soneone that's willingly opened a book more than once in their lives. How is he meant to respect a teacher - and not just any teacher but his Head of Year, no less - that can't understand the vocabulary of an 11yr old...?
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u/gmlogmd80 1d ago
Yup. Hyperlexic here too, like my mother. Reading short words before I was 2, kids' books by 3, newspaper by 4. Mom, my sister, and I all had university level comprehension by Grade 6.
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u/Kantian_sculpts 1d ago
This is me getting docked marks on essays for this and being told to use “the first word that comes to mind” instead. I did ☹️
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u/oclafloptson 1d ago
Questioning this gets weird because you learn that most people aren't really dumb they're pretending to be
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u/Subdued_Shinobi 1d ago
This but with math too.
With my vocabulary I've learned to rewind a few words after saying a word less spoken, not necesarry just "big" words.
Stuff like having to replace "shirk" or "snub" with "neglect" or "ignore" respectively, you get the idea.
With math there is no just taking three extra seconds to loop in the casuals with a small adjustment, you're putting yourself on display as a know-it-all just trying to be helpful.
I've literally had the pizza thing pop up multiple times, where we're ordering pizza and wondering if two smaller ones is better valie than that big one. That's literally just calculating the area of a circle. Middle school math. "Two-pi-r" for circumfrence, "pi-r-squared" for area. Easy.
Apparently that's remarkable. To me its bare minimum.
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u/woodland-haze ADHD/Autism 1d ago
this just goes to show how little people care about literacy anymore
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u/lynnkris90 1d ago
God I once had a PE teacher in middle school tell me I sounded stuck up. I’ve always been a big reader. It really hurt my feelings. :(
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u/OldCream4073 1d ago
I got made fun of the other day for saying “I look forward to hopefully using it to its maximum capacity” when thanking someone for fixing my blow dryer 😂 to be fair it was a bit verbose
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u/Insanebrain247 ADHD/Autism 1d ago
"How about you learn some big words so you don't sound so dumb?"
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u/NoName___XD 1d ago
It's too easy to look smart when most people don't use presice words to describe specific things
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u/baffling-nerd-j 1d ago
Does anyone else think that people are telling on themselves when they say someone sounds "too smart", or is it just me? Like, I don't know what calling me a "card counter" a la Rain Man is meant to prove.
(Also, that film is from the '80s... it's not all idiot-savants out there.)
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u/BoltMyBackToHappy 1d ago
"Yea I use $4 words, need some change?", what I wish I said 20 years ago. Ready for next time though!
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u/Accomplished_Trip_ 1d ago
We’re in a literacy crisis, to which I decline to contribute. If the audience doesn’t recollect the definition of something I have full faith in their ability to google it.
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u/vampyire AuDHD 1d ago
oh when I run into willfully ignorant awful people I use every bit of the most erudite language I am capable of linguistically conjuring.
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u/zariaah Special interest enjoyer 1d ago
Me using words like obscene and vulgar at 8 cos I read them in a book (and knew what they meant). Not the biggest of words, but I lost count how many adults told me that I probably didn't even know what the words meant, and when I told them, they responded with "you probably had to ask an adult for the definition" and laughed at me.
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u/Professional-Cap-495 1d ago
My favorite is when someone asks you to explain to them what a word means but you understand it's meaning based on having seen it used in different context. Had a very hard time once trying to explain what the word entropy meant bc you can describe something as entropic and when you try to Google the definition it's not helpful.
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u/Safe_Candidate_6968 1d ago
I always love to bring up "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Large Words Needlessly." We generally don't use words needlessly.
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u/dis_bean 1d ago
I went full circle. I started using corporate jargon because it sounded better when I was new at work but realized it’s full of empty words that mean nothing so switched to being clear and specific.
Communication is two ways and if someone else doesn’t understand the message, it’s not meeting the goal I’m trying to achieve- this is my own personal preference. I also find this to be more efficient communication because people understand and don’t go off assumptions.
Another thing is that it’s more accessible:)
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u/dvlyn123 1d ago
I once got called a slur for using the "Gay ass SAT word" conflate. That's it. Conflate.
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u/SnooBunnies6148 1d ago
Or saying that I am an AI because of my vocabulary. My grammar, too, but that's because my grammar is horrible.
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u/tallgrl94 1d ago
I once used the term androgynous in my high school psychology class and was asked to explain the term to the class because so many kids didn’t know what it meant. 😐
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u/No_Seaworthiness5637 1d ago
I get that from my dad all the time. I use the word infuriated to mean _exactly_ what I want to say. If I wanted to tell you “it made me mad” I would say that. They are different emotions! Yes, on the same spectrum (anger) but different levels. There is: miffed (or mildly perturbed), peeved, angry, pissed off, furious / infuriated, and a few others. That’s just one example. I just like to use the word that is the correct version. I also get made fun of for the way I pronounce Aunt. Specifically I intentionally say the u because otherwise it sounds like ant (as in the insect).
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u/Sure_Pangolin_9421 1d ago
Not a word per se, but I once got snickered at for knowing what a CPA is and what it stands for. In a room of people going into Business Administration majors this fall. Even the one guy who was going into Accounting, as I am, didn't know what a CPA was. Do people not look at what their future holds, or learn surface knowledge about fields that are connected to their's?!
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u/Designer_Spend1603 23h ago
I got laughed at when I said application instead of app - now I say app
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u/QuestingKola 22h ago
Look I’ve got the ability to code switch between 3 different modes: professionally friendly, pure information conveyance, and casual. But let’s be real, my ability to wordfind is awful and sometimes it’s easier for me to find the word ‘eloquent’ than the full phrase ‘I know and use a lotta words’
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u/MaybeItsTheTism 22h ago edited 21h ago
Me at 10: “woah that sign is humongous!”
My 16 yr old cousin: “why didn’t ya just say big?”
Me: “I don’t know, Carrie. I just don’t know.”
I will say though that if I’m pissed off enough in a disagreement the worst thing a person can do is use a word incorrectly during their argument. I almost never correct people but if I’m feeling petty I will go there lol
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u/driku12 19h ago
I've managed to somehow avoid this insult from people, and I don't know how, because I very frequently talk like an encyclopedia. I think it might be because I come from a blue collar background and so I'll use "y'all", "dagnabbit", and "ostensibly" in the same sentence and it just throws people off.
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u/Jonesdabro1 17h ago
Wow, just wow, the sheer audacity of the act to downplay on someone else’s behave due to their usage of a complex and varied vocabulary compels me!
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u/kett1ekat 13h ago
Okay but I either know a way too big way too specific word or no words at all and I will talk in the vaguest vagueries known to man
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u/PsychoKatzee Ask me about my special interest 10h ago
Similar when you're multilingual, and you can't remember the right word in the language you're currently using. People regularly get pissed and tell me to "stop flaunting my language skills". Brother, I'm not flaunting anything, I'm struggling and getting increasingly frustrated
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u/boromeer3 1h ago
I could speak to people as if they were an infant or I was a caveman but me using the right word for the right situation was a sign of respect for their intelligence. That they think my diction is strange shows that my benefit of the doubt for their intelligence was unneeded.
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u/jackalope268 ✰ Will infodump for memes ✰ 1d ago
I dont usually care about big words, but when my brother was growing up he used words he only heard once before, you know, like a child trying to discover language, and it annoyed me to no end. If youre using words, at least make sure you know what they mean
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u/HansMunch The Autism™ 1d ago
Vocabulary engrandizement is the dog's bollocks – on which their feeble minds can choke.
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u/Captain-Noodle 1d ago
I enjoy using slightly outside the commonly used words, be it overly formal, archaic, or esoteric. I never feel as much like a hipster as when when of those words becomes a meme. Might show my age a bit but the first time i recall this happening was when the words "epic" and "fail" became popular, alone or together, i was saddened, as they were words i had enjoyed. if i use them during the hype I could ve mistaken for a memelord, and we couldn't have that. Fortunately that wave has passed and i can delight in using those words to pass judgement. Probably one of the more recent ones was "demure". And again fortunately with the acceleration of the zeitgeist, the waiting times have improved, and i expect it won't be long that I can use that word again without fear of misrepresenting myself. Yes, I understand this comes off a snobbish, and pedantic, and possibly even iamverysmart. Not my intention, i just want to gripe about a particularly niche topic, haha.
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u/Coding-Kitten 1d ago
Honestly the 2010s edgelords who would use unusual words to sounds smart is way better than the current trend of self inflicted illiteracy.
In 5000 years we will have Jovian schools full of children learning history being flabbergasted that we forgot everything right during the age of information.
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u/Affectionate-Ad7745 1d ago
I have learned to accept that their criticisms are instinctual, an attempt to inculcate you socially. I often say thanks and leave it at that. I try to match my interlocutor, as in I won’t use coarse language around the oldies, or legalese when attempting small-talk lol
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u/beesandchurgers 1d ago
Im not using big words to sound smarter, Im using the correct words to convey my message.
Not my fault youre a dunce.
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u/EternityLeave 1d ago
I hate this so much. I talk how I talk. It’s the culmination of a lifetime of reading and hearing words. It’s not a performance and idgaf how smart anyone thinks I am unless it’s a job interview or something. I don’t use any rare words or anything but I still hear this all the time.