some of the words William Buckley liked to emit to make his interlocutor feel stupid
Which brings up a question/point...do you (not you specifically insel. but folks on Board) feel stupid when you don't know what a word means.
Maybe it is just the way I was raised but I never feel stupid about those things. I just say "excuse me, but what does that word mean?" Nobody can be expected to know everything. If someone is trying to make me feel ignorant by uttering whole sentences like those above I will make them repeat, and explain it in other words, until I understand. I don't really care who is speaking.
One teacher I had in CEGEP told me (not just about words but any other subject) that if I asked it was certain that there were 20 people in class who had not understood and were afraid to look bad by speaking up.
You don't look stupid...the person who refuses to explain looks arrogant.
