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Joined: Jul 2011
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2 |
I'm trying to remember a vocabulary word from my Freshman English class. It means someone who is always using big words but uses them incorrectly. This is driving me NUTS!! Thanks in advance. 
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
I suppose you could call such a person "Slip" (from the Bowery Boys) who was always doing that - or you could perhaps call the person a Malaprop - or a malapropist.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
malapropist (adj. form malapropos) is likely what you seek, but as long as you're relating it to big words you should consider 'catachresis' - defined by Silva Rhetoricae as a vice in which a word is used in a context that differs from its proper application.
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2 |
I'm not sure malapropist is what I'm thinking of. The broader definition of the word is someone trying to impress others and make his/herself appear more intelligent by dropping big words without actually knowing the meaning of the words and expecting to get away with it because the person to whom they are speaking doesn't know the meaning either. I suppose a vulgar, colloquial synonym might be "bullshit artist" or "politician"!  
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Yeah. I don't think malapropist carries the connotation of doing it to show off.
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,916 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,916 Likes: 2 |
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677
addict
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addict
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677 |
arghh! I remember looking at a cartoon with this word in! i knew i should've kept it! i shall think on...
----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963
old hand
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old hand
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963 |
Well, sesquipedalian describes the use of long words, but not incorrect use.
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706 |
and obfuscation sets out intentionally to confuse or be ambiguous but I thought I'd throw it into the soup.
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Joined: Jun 2008
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,916 Likes: 2 |
Such big words after a hard day at work.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
I did a quick google and found this:
Here are some of the original malapropisms from the lady herself: Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Sheridan's play The Rivals (1775).
In case you're not sure what it is that Mrs. Malaprop is intending to say we've put the correct word(s) in square brackets after each quotation.
"...promise to forget this fellow - to illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory."
[obliterate]
"He is the very pine-apple of politeness!"
[pinnacle]
"I have since laid Sir Anthony's preposition before her;"
[proposition]
"...she might reprehend the true meaning of what she is saying."
[comprehend]
"...she's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of Nile."
[alligator]
"Why, murder's the matter! slaughter's the matter! killing's the matter! - but he can tell you the perpendiculars."
[particulars]
"I thought she had persisted from corresponding with him;"
[desisted]
"His physiognomy so grammatical!"
[phraseology]
"...if ever you betray what you are entrusted with... you forfeit my malevolence for ever..."
[benevolence]
"Sure, if I reprehend any thing in this world it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!"
[apprehend, vernacular, arrangement, epithets]
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Thank you Zed. I'm getting the jist of it now.
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