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Words that sound academic, but aren’t

 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room Post Reply
13 messages over 2 pages: 1
Presidio
Triglot
Newbie
United States
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Speaks: English*, Russian, German
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Gulf)

 
 Message 9 of 13
21 January 2013 at 5:08am | IP Logged 
Serpent wrote:
On the other hand, when these words consist of simple roots they might not sound academic at all.



And on the other hand...

We have the word "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia." (Accent on the 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 13th syllables.)

Ironically enough, it means "The fear of long words."

PATIENT: "So, doctor...I'm terrified by long words. Is there a name for that?"
DOCTOR: "Ummmm...."




.

Edited by Presidio on 21 January 2013 at 5:10am

4 persons have voted this message useful



ling
Diglot
Groupie
Taiwan
Joined 4345 days ago

61 posts - 94 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin
Studies: Indonesian, Thai

 
 Message 10 of 13
21 January 2013 at 6:45pm | IP Logged 
Chinese 芬多精, meaning "phytoncide". Known to most Mandarin speakers in Taiwan, but hardly
known to anyone in English.
1 person has voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6356 days ago

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Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 11 of 13
21 January 2013 at 10:21pm | IP Logged 
Presidio wrote:
Serpent wrote:
On the other hand, when these words consist of simple roots they might not sound academic at all.



And on the other hand...

We have the word "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia." (Accent on the 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 13th syllables.)

Ironically enough, it means "The fear of long words."

PATIENT: "So, doctor...I'm terrified by long words. Is there a name for that?"
DOCTOR: "Ummmm...."

.
Sorry but this should've been in the urban myths thread :)
2 persons have voted this message useful



outcast
Bilingual Heptaglot
Senior Member
China
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Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin
Studies: Korean

 
 Message 12 of 13
16 February 2013 at 3:45am | IP Logged 
I would say many in Spanish now and have used "preponderante", but in English that is
definitely seen as a fancy word to use ("preponderant")

e.g. = The increase in the cost of living is the preponderant factor in the erosion of
the middle class's purchasing power."

In Spanish using that word would not sound so yuppy.

Edited by outcast on 16 February 2013 at 3:47am

2 persons have voted this message useful



PinkCordelia
Diglot
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Wales
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31 posts - 77 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Italian, Welsh

 
 Message 13 of 13
16 February 2013 at 10:49am | IP Logged 
I once heard a bilingual Italian 6 year old use 'penultimate' quite casually in an
English sentence as a result, presumably, of his knowledge of Italian (penultimo).


3 persons have voted this message useful



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