words you know but sorta don't and wouldn't mind using them properly

[Linliel]

I'm not gonna look up a dictionary, so I'm gonna have a go.

plebe - comes from the Roman underclass thing. Plebeian is more modernly used to talk about something that is "for the unwashed masses".

ipso facto - used when something logically follows - If Eric is half a bee, then ipso facto Eric is also half not-bee.

moral relativism - kinda hard to define this, but basically it's when you cast your morals within a particular context, then change them to suit a different context. The morals are considered relative to the contexts. It's basically the foundation for "well, that's just how they do it there". This is different from changing ethics to context btw, but that's getting far too much up my academic alley that I'd get grouchy about having to explain it when I'm tired.


perspicacity (I might not even know that one at all lol) - I *think* this means spunk in the non-jizz way. But it probably doesn't.

antediluvian - no idea.

in medias res - ugh, I know this but I get it confused with mens rea and all that. These are a bunch of legal and philosophical words that are titles of different logical arguments (or logical fallacies). I find it's worth printing out a cheat sheet and sticking it next to my work computer.

ad hominem (and all those other legal terms) - this one is a logical fallacy whereby the arguer attacks the person making the statement rather than the statement itself.

[Conrad]

"dichotomy," "juxtaposition," and "cognitive dissonance" are all great words to use on a first date, btw

[Mertron]

in medias res - ugh, I know this but I get it confused with mens rea and all that.

in the middle of things

if i remember right mens rea is some legal thing for having the cognitive ability to do wrong

[Mertron]

"dichotomy," "juxtaposition," and "cognitive dissonance" are all great words to use on a first date, btw

my favorite word is rape

[Kiarax]

chagrined

[Howie Roary]

I looked up antediluvian and it has nothing to do with going 88 mph for the most part

ante (before, or pre-) diluvian (deluge: flood), so before the flood


it seems to refer to people that believe there even was a flood etc

[Conrad]

that one too

[Shiroikage]

"dichotomy," "juxtaposition," and "cognitive dissonance" are all great words to use on a first date, btw

I remember some girl kept trying to get me to talk about x-ray crystallography and she kept asking questions.
At that point, I had learned to hate everything about x-ray crystallography and she would not let me change the subject.
I don't know if she liked big, technical words or something because that shit should not be interesting in any way to a layperson.

[Conrad]

I looked up antediluvian and it has nothing to do with going 88 mph for the most part

ante (before, or pre-) diluvian (deluge: flood), so before the flood


it seems to refer to people that believe there even was a flood etc

it just means "antique," either as an adjective or noun

[Conrad]

caveat is another good one

[Antithesis]

also this is a stupid idea. I type and speak similarly.

Understandable but a lot of people (especially English / Writing majors) speak and write completely different.

[Shiroikage]

I always liked ephemereal

[Conrad]

ephemeral is good

vehement

[Lucienne]

in the middle of things

It's a literary term. You'd use it about a story that doesn't start in the usual once upon a time way, but kind of throws you right into the middle of events without explaining anything. Chairs are flying, people are screaming, there is a naked guy on the roof. Boom.

[Conrad]

I remember I had to explain to a friend's girlfriend once what the word "objectify" meant

This girl later told me that women don't like guys who are smart and I shouldn't act that way; in hindsight, I think she was conflating intelligence with what she perceived as arrogance or pretentiousness

also, conflate

[Lucienne]

vehement is something like you're putting a lot of effort into it, isn't it?

[Lucienne]

I remember I had to explain to a friend's girlfriend once what the word "objectify" meant

This girl later told me that women don't like guys who are smart and I shouldn't act that way; in hindsight, I think she was conflating intelligence with what she perceived as arrogance or pretentiousness

also, conflate

You don't want to have discussions with people that don't know what objectify means anyway.

[Lucienne]

And what's conflate?

[Antithesis]

This one goes out to Demo:

Obfuscate

[Conrad]

sort of? It means to have a lot of emotion behind something, like "the internet is vehemently against SOPA's passage"