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This is certainly a question worth addressing, and in fact is one that I tackle on a regular basis. I didn't respond to your original post as I too fell victim to dietrologia -- we have some history here which causes us to be paranoid regarding people's motives.
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You're back. It looks like I jumped the gun in accusing you of a post-and-run thread. Sorry.
Well, here's my two cents on this subject, if you really want it.
You speak as though there were a one-size-fits-all solution to this question "When is a big word too big". With all due respect, I think the question is rather literal-minded and naive. It is like asking, "When is it inapproprite in painting to paint a rampant tiger?" or "When is it bad to use a cymbal crash in a symphony." It depends on any of an almost infinite number of considerations.
Of course, you might give a few examples and ask: "Does such-and-such a word work in this sentence?" Or, "Would a rampant tiger be inappropriate in this painting?" You might then try to draw up some general rules, but you would find it impossible: unless each of the rules were infinitely long, there would be an infinite number of exceptions to each rule.
So... just use your sprachgefuhl?
Last edited by Hydra; 12/07/06 10:03 AM.
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Bib:
Here's my standard -- as a writer I know the audience to whom I am writing. If I don't know that I am not a good writer. And if, as an astute "reader" of my audience, I truly believe that the majority (or even a significant minority of them) will know what yaud (though of course as a purist I prefer the more traditional yawd) means, then I will use it, but if and only if there is a need for it.
I would not for the life of me use it in say a column about horse-racing; in fact, I cannot see a use for it at all. It is obscure and/or antiquated, and it's a fun word to bandy about in a discussion like this, but it has no real place in literature because too few people know what it is. If your audience has to go scurrying to the OED twice on every page you have FAILED as a writer. It is the writer's duty to communicate, not to obfuscate, or even to educate about odd words (unless that's the stated purpose of the written piece, of course.)
I'd use broken-down nag or hack, but not yaud.
People who routinely use words like this just to see the look of incomprehension on the faces in the audience or to be able to smirk inwardly or outwardly when asked what the word is, are pretention boobs, in the main, and are to some extent beneath contempt. I hope Bill Buckley is reading this. Bragging is unbecoming.
TEd
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Quote:
And if, as an astute "reader" of my audience, I truly believe that the majority (or even a significant minority of them) will know what yaud (though of course as a purist I prefer the more traditional yawd) means, then I will use it, but if and only if there is a need for it.
[humble opinion] I don't think an author should cater slavishly to the tastes, literacy, or ken of his readership. Where's the challenge for the reader? But more importantly, if the use of obscure words was necessary for the author to maintain a fidelity to his intentions, he should not water it down out of consideration for the lowest common denominator. If he feels generous, he should provide a glossary. (Nabokov, Burroughs, and Robert Musil have all glossed words at various times.) But failing that, he should trust that his reader has a dictionary, and, if he cares enough, will use it. [/humble opinion]
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great word ken
and so nice to see it used (i use it in a stock phrase "Beyond my ken" frequently, but...
only about as often i as i use 'grok'.
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Footnotes belong in technical writing, not literature.
TEd
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if the word fits, use it. if it obfuscates, don't, unless that is your intention.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Quote:
Footnotes belong in technical writing, not literature.
Don't you think that's debatable? If scholium is okay—and Shakespeare's plays are given a generous helping of it in some editions—what's wrong with the author doing it? In fact, would that make it more legitimate? Jorges Luis Borges uses pseudo-exegetical footnotes to great effect, to give a quality of realism to the faux manuscript texts of his short stories.
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Pooh-Bah
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bib: If you drop those words into casual everyday conversation you will be considered snooty
var: Explain anti-Turing. Is this an expr of type 3
TEd: Good for you, I appreciate a little support once in a while. God knows how hard is it to evoke
The last is of type 2
dalehileman
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Pooh-Bah
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I have often read words I didn't know, then I looked them up and knew them. If it is the word that best describes what you want to say then use it. A word is only too big if it is used to show off what big words you know or if it is out of place.
But be aware that for every reader who values a new word several more will just skip over it without bothering to look it up. Better still if the definition is inherant in the writing. Eg Twelve foals later she was sway-backed and nearly tailess, just a yaud that seemed out of place in a first class stable.
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