ubiquitous? obfuscation? what's your favorite ten-dollar word?

Question

ubiquitous: {you-BIK-wit-us} being everywhere at once. omnipresent.
obfuscation: {ob-fuh-SKAY-shun} to make so confused as to be difficult to understand.

i love big words!!

sometimes they can be downright confusing though, especially if they're used incorrectly. i call these 'ten-dolllar words'. what big word do you love to drop on people just for the heck of it? (and define it please!) what's their response when you DO it?

Answer 1

inchoate



Not sure if it is my favorite, but I think it's worth ten dollars. You?



Only used it in conversation once.



lol, I like "cogitate," too. :-))



crepuscular.



tenebrous.



If the two immediately above are not shown in a dictionary, I will not buy it :-)) I love real books :-))



My favorite might be "elucidate." Sounds so much better than "hunh??"



..........



usufruct: Not me, and I've read (perused?) :-)) all sorts of books.....

Answer 2

I like this question, though you are familiar with my policy about picking favourites, right? I'll not name just one...



There are some awesome words beginning with "ob," have you noticed?



In addition to your own obfuscation, there's:



obstreperous (marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness)



obsequious (marked by exhibiting a fawning attentiveness)



obnubilate (to becloud or obscure)



I also like obscure pejorative terms, the more outdated, the better.



Piltdown man (OK, it's 2 words but you need both... it refers to a supposed early homanid, discovered in an English town of the same name, which was later revealed to be a hoax... it's perfect in place of the more commonly used Neanderthal or caveman)



poltroon (a spiritless, craven coward)



philistine *a personal favourite* (someone disdainful of intellectual or artistic values)



Then there are those words that beautifully capture that which cannot otherwise be defined...



amorphous (having no definite form; being without definite character or nature)



usufruct (the legal right to use or enjoy something, usually belonging to another)



I'd be curious to know how many people have ever even seen that last one before. I first came across it in an excellent book I read about environmental history (yet another college-boy reference, sorry) and I never forgot it.



Cheers, Patz. Great question!

Answer 3

Well, Patz, depends on where you are at, to what qualifies as 'ten dollar words.' Like some of my kin folk think I'm pretty intellectual. And think I talk with 'high falutten words' they say. And if 'en ya'll used some of them words around them, they'd take offense and might even start a squarin' off to fight you, thinking you were 'cussin' them. lol...



They use words like;

Modem- What you do to tall weeds.

Network- How you get yer bait for fishing.

Packet- What you do a suitcase before a trip.

Far- flames

Tarred- Exhausted

Farn- Not local

Seed- Past tense of 'see'.

Munts- A calender division.

Bard- Past tense of 'to borrow'.

All- A petroleum-based lubricant.



Just thought I'd warn you, in case you ever wuz down our way!.....lol... Leave them words at home...lol...

Answer 4

esoteric: 1 a : designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone b : requiring or exhibiting knowledge that is restricted to a small group ; broadly : difficult to understand



I love it because no one ever knows what it means, and its definition is, in effect, a word only understood by a small group of people. LOL

Answer 5

cornucopia

plethora

fallacious

quixotic

xenophobia



Are just a few that I like.



I've used quixotic (which means "naively idealistic") several times with clients. My clients are highly educated MBA types who know pretty much nothing about the programming work I do, so whe I tell them their idea is pretty "quixotic" they do a double take, and say "What?" Then I explain it to them, they laugh and tell me they'll probably use the word themselves in the future.

Answer 6

Well I don't know if it is such a big word but I never hear anyone use it but me...lambent - softly bright or radiant (adjective)



"A lambent flame"



Most just continue on w/ the conversation but I don't think they know what it means, unless they use their context clues!

Answer 7

Compassion (feeling what another feels, walking in someone elses shoes) (lady Deaths definition)

They usually respond with "well I gotta go, talk to you later"