What's the most pretentious word?

Maybe 'honorificabilitudinitatibus.' The 27-letter 'honorificabilitudinitatibus' is the longest word in a Shakespearean play and occurs in 'Love's Labour's Lost,' 5.1.15 (see below). It is the dative and ablative plural of the Latin 'honorificabilitudinitas' meaning 'the state of being able to achieve honors.'

'O, they have liv'd long on the alms-basket of words. I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word, for thou are not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus; thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon.'

When people incorrectly substitute the word 'Calculus' for 'Math'.

Esoteric is a pretentious word, though it may not be the most pretntious. After a midterm, a professor I was taking a class from asked the class "were my questions too [pause for effect] esoteric for you?"

My take is that pretty much every word listed so far can be used in circumstances in which it will be the best fit, and more accurate and/or precise than using some of suggested less pretentious terms.

seasonal greetings wrote:

Last night I heard someone say ". . . an organic homage to the genre . . .".

At that point I consciously uncoupled from the conversation.

Oh man, it's cringe-worthy for someone to think it is okay to talk like that.

A few years ago, everyone started calling flavored mayo "aioli". Lots of pretentious foodie terms.

Also, am I the only one that feels a little pretentious myself when I attempt to accuse others of pretension?

quote Word Gluttony wrote:

Bourgeoisie.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie

In Marxist philosophy the bourgeoisie is the social class that came to own the means of production during modern industrialization and whose societal concerns are the value of property and the preservation of capital, to ensure the perpetuation of their economic supremacy in society. end quote

While is means the Vaishyas caste many speakers misuse it to mean either uncouth, uneducated in social grace or pedestrian, unimaginative/commonplace in idea.

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ersatz

Whenever I venture into more literary circles, whether in reading or meeting some people with too many degrees or watching an interview with some academic, someone always uses ersatz. The best part is that you can be extra snooty by saying it with a German accent even though the word was adopted into the English language over 100 years ago from the German word for substitute.

Audacity

Its leviooooosa not leviosaaaa wrote:

Audacity

As long as you're not talking about the audio recording program, I'm in agreement!

randomcoach wrote:

My take is that pretty much every word listed so far can be used in circumstances in which it will be the best fit, and more accurate and/or precise than using some of suggested less pretentious terms.

That's mostly true. If were writing about an experiment that I ran multiple times, I would definitely use the word "iteration." Some people lack the skill of switching level of formality based on context.

The word that I listed earlier, "whilst," is a particularly bad example because it is a hyperacademic word--that is, it is a word people use when they want to sound academic despite the fact that nobody who actually does academic writing would actually use it.

plethora

For me it's a toss up:

1. Bespoke - 100% hipster

2. Artisan - It's artisan this and artisan that. NO! You made it by hand, so just say so.

"Problematic."

Example: The way people are talking about Hillary's loss is "problematic."

These are the same people who believe in "rape culture" and use words like "mansplaining."

"Problematic" tries to make it look like you know what you're talking about, but it's really just damn vague and meaningless. WHAT is problematic? Be specific.

kumquat

"Triage" when they mean "prioritize".

Sans

13_point_1 wrote:

For me it's a toss up:

1. Bespoke - 100% hipster

2. Artisan - It's artisan this and artisan that. NO! You made it by hand, so just say so.

Whitebeard?

This thread is providing ample ammunition for my future legal briefs.