4 ms·

In defence of obscure words

51 points by pclark 14y ago

Retric 14y ago
The drop in standards has little to do with average education levels. As the percentage of people going to college increases the average intelligence and education level of incoming freshman has decreased. At the same time the number of colleges has dramatically increased and they all have a few tallent based scholarships which prevents any one school from focusing on top students as they often have free rides.
yareally 14y ago
Is it really that the average vocabulary of the world is decreasing or is it just more obvious to those that care that a large percentage of users do not share their vocabulary? The Internet makes things much more obvious to people than it used to before its mass adoption by the average human.
sold 14y ago
I am a non-native speaker. 95% of my contact with English is via a computer. There's the google effect: I press Ctrl+T, type tr(anslate.google.com) -> enter and type the word to get an instant translation. In the old times I had very restricted access to the Internet. I used a paper dictionary and bothered to write the word down so I won't forget. I can express myself without a dictionary, but often I _know_ there is a better word and instead of attempting to recall it for a minute I can get it within seconds. My skills worsen as this lookup became a habit. It is a muscle reflex, with paper dictionaries I had to decide to spend the time to research. I should counteract this, but the world is busy and I keep finding other things to do. In the older times, workers were forced to use their muscles. Now they have robots and physical strength became less important. The same thing happens with foreign languages, basic arithmetic etc. On the one hand, I can focus on high-level tasks; on the other, with no low-level practice I am effectively becoming disabled. Simultaneously and bit ironically, I am a programmer and I love when a task can be done without human intervention.
- atesti 14y ago
  Do you type the word in or do you use copy and paste? I always force me to retype words that I look up (e.g. using dict.leo.org) to at least partially commit something to memory.
  - sold 14y ago
    Retype. Somehow I feel more connected to the words when I type them by myself.
javajosh 14y ago
Perhaps the real culprit is egalitarianism. Those with expansive vocabularies are often castigated by their more boorish friends, often attacked for being arrogant or snooty. It's not fair or right, but it happens. The simple truth is that good, old-fashioned intellectual elitism keeps (or kept, rather) 'obscure' vocabulary alive in a healthy climate of peers. And, btw, it's good not to think of Aaron for a moment.
chrisbennet 14y ago
I enjoy obscure words in the books I read. They are like small treats the author has left for me to unwrap. However, when I write or speak I'm usually trying to *communicate; the use of obscure words tends to work against that.

51 points by pclark 14y ago

The drop in standards has little to do with average education levels. As the percentage of people going to college increases the average intelligence and education level of incoming freshman has decreased. At the same time the number of colleges has dramatically increased and they all have a few tallent based scholarships which prevents any one school from focusing on top students as they often have free rides.

yareally 14y ago

Is it really that the average vocabulary of the world is decreasing or is it just more obvious to those that care that a large percentage of users do not share their vocabulary? The Internet makes things much more obvious to people than it used to before its mass adoption by the average human.

sold 14y ago

I am a non-native speaker. 95% of my contact with English is via a computer. There's the google effect: I press Ctrl+T, type tr(anslate.google.com) -> enter and type the word to get an instant translation. In the old times I had very restricted access to the Internet. I used a paper dictionary and bothered to write the word down so I won't forget. I can express myself without a dictionary, but often I _know_ there is a better word and instead of attempting to recall it for a minute I can get it within seconds. My skills worsen as this lookup became a habit. It is a muscle reflex, with paper dictionaries I had to decide to spend the time to research. I should counteract this, but the world is busy and I keep finding other things to do. In the older times, workers were forced to use their muscles. Now they have robots and physical strength became less important. The same thing happens with foreign languages, basic arithmetic etc. On the one hand, I can focus on high-level tasks; on the other, with no low-level practice I am effectively becoming disabled. Simultaneously and bit ironically, I am a programmer and I love when a task can be done without human intervention.

atesti 14y ago
Do you type the word in or do you use copy and paste? I always force me to retype words that I look up (e.g. using dict.leo.org) to at least partially commit something to memory.
- sold 14y ago
  Retype. Somehow I feel more connected to the words when I type them by myself.

javajosh 14y ago

Perhaps the real culprit is egalitarianism. Those with expansive vocabularies are often castigated by their more boorish friends, often attacked for being arrogant or snooty. It's not fair or right, but it happens. The simple truth is that good, old-fashioned intellectual elitism keeps (or kept, rather) 'obscure' vocabulary alive in a healthy climate of peers. And, btw, it's good not to think of Aaron for a moment.

chrisbennet 14y ago

I enjoy obscure words in the books I read. They are like small treats the author has left for me to unwrap. However, when I write or speak I'm usually trying to *communicate; the use of obscure words tends to work against that.