Poll of the Day > Has anyone ever used a BIG WORD that you DIDN'T know what it meant???

(+) Yeah! (+)

as in has anyone ever used a word to you that you had no idea what it meant? let's see if people have.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d3/79/26/d37926cf39d2453584a42decdd55c518--old-paper-pooh-bear.jpg
---

Plenty of people are using the word nazi lately with no idea what it means
---

mrduckbear posted...

as in has anyone ever used a word to you that you had no idea what it meant? let's see if people have.

Once or maybe twice but I'd be surprised if anyone hasn't, you can't possibly know every word or you're not having enough interesting discussions with educated people lol
---

Not any time recently.
---

SmokeMassTree posted...

Plenty of people are using the word nazi lately with no idea what it means

Good point lol Not to mention socialism in general, fascism, communism/marxism etc.
---

All the damn time in my math courses. There's been quite a few times I've had to look up the shit they're talking about.
---

SmokeMassTree posted...

Plenty of people are using the word nazi lately with no idea what it means

Do you need like a dictionary glued to your face or would that even work

Nazis existed before and after WWII.

Says who? Literally every single definition of the word Nazi.
---

SmokeMassTree posted...

Plenty of people are using the word nazi lately with no idea what it means

Well, first of all, usage evolves with time; that's how language works. Secondly, "nazi" is not, under any accepted usage of the phrase, a "big word": neither a word of immense size, nor one that would cause one to be accused of magniloquence.
---

Not really.
---

dainkinkaide posted...

Well, first of all, usage evolves with time; that's how language works.

The name of a historical group doesn't change over time.
---

SmokeMassTree posted...

Plenty of people are using the word nazi lately with no idea what it means

Well, yeah, but it's not our fault you won't listen when we try to teach you =P

To answer the original question, no. I came out of the womb perfectly understanding everything my mom and the doctor were saying.

This poll is inane, even by your standards, Ducky.
---

Kyuubi4269 posted...

dainkinkaide posted...

Well, first of all, usage evolves with time; that's how language works.

The name of a historical group doesn't change over time.

No, you're right, the name didn't change. But the meaning did by semantic broadening, which is a thing that happens in language all the time.

Funny how I don't see you and your ilk arguing that people are using "thug" wrong when they're not referring to a member of a historical band of assassins who worshiped the Goddess Kali.
---

what a bad topic, of course i've always known what every word means
---

dainkinkaide posted...

Funny how I don't see you and your ilk arguing that people are using "thug" wrong when they're not referring to a member of a historical band of assassins who worshiped the Goddess Kali.

Thuggish became an adjective which made thug the noun of thuggish, Nazi didn't become a noun of nazish since that adjective never happened. There's also the fact Nazis are within living memory, historical Thugs are not.
---

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Thuggish became an adjective which made thug the noun of thuggish, Nazi didn't become a noun of nazish since that adjective never happened.

"Thug", as a term meaning "ruffian, cutthroat, violent lowbrow" first appears in 1839. "Thuggish" didn't enter the English lexicon until 1870.

Ergo, "thug" gained its meaning of "ruffian, cutthroat, violent lowbrow" by semantic broadening via an association with the views and behavior of the historical "Thugs" (which itself was a pejorative for the phanseegur that came from the Marathi pejorative "thag", meaning "cheat, swindler"), which is almost exactly like how "nazi" gained its meaning of "racist, anti-semite, or fascist" by semantic broadening via an association with the views and behavior of the historical "Nazis" (which itself was a pejorative for the NSDAP that came from the German pejorative "Nazi", meaning "foolish person".)

Don't make etymological arguments when you're ignorant of etymology.
---

Naw. Despite mah diction round hurr gotta big vocab.
---

I try to inject floccinaucinihilipilification into every coversation I have.
---

I use big words at times but find it difficult to explain what they mean even though I know what they mean.
---

dainkinkaide posted...

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Thuggish became an adjective which made thug the noun of thuggish, Nazi didn't become a noun of nazish since that adjective never happened.

"Thug", as a term meaning "ruffian, cutthroat, violent lowbrow" first appears in 1839. "Thuggish" didn't enter the English lexicon until 1870.

Ergo, "thug" gained its meaning of "ruffian, cutthroat, violent lowbrow" by semantic broadening via an association with the views and behavior of the historical "Thugs" (which itself was a pejorative for the phanseegur that came from the Marathi pejorative "thag", meaning "cheat, swindler"), which is almost exactly like how "nazi" gained its meaning of "racist, anti-semite, or fascist" by semantic broadening via an association with the views and behavior of the historical "Nazis" (which itself was a pejorative for the NSDAP that came from the German pejorative "Nazi", meaning "foolish person".)

Don't make etymological arguments when you're ignorant of etymology.

His google skills aren't very good.

To sound smart I sometimes fornicate words into my sentences, even if I don't know what they mean
---