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Dear Prudie,
I'm a 27-year-old social butterfly but I have a problem. Why do people feel the need to use words that aren't a part of everyday vocabulary? I'm sorry, but if there's a word that someone brings up in a conversation that I don't understand, I don't want to stop them in the middle of the sentence and pick up a dictionary just to find the meaning of the word. Can you please tell the brainiacs and intellectuals that not everyone is a walking dictionary?
—Dictionary for Dummies
Dear Dic,
Prudie would ask you a question in return: When you take people to task for using words not a part of "everyday vocabulary," whose everyday vocabulary? The so-called two-dollar words used to show off one's erudition are never welcome, but to talk down to people would seem equally unwelcome. Everyone at a social gathering will never have the same vocabulary, education, etc. (unless you're at a scientific or technical meeting). The underlying question here may well be: Does one converse in the lowest common denominator because someone may not know what you know? In your case, you might ask the speaker, "What does that word mean?" Prudie has done this. Sometimes you can figure it out from the context. As you can tell, Prudie does not support your basic premise, but hopes this does not leave you querulous or irascible.
—Prudie, succinctly
I'm a 27-year-old social butterfly but I have a problem. Why do people feel the need to use words that aren't a part of everyday vocabulary? I'm sorry, but if there's a word that someone brings up in a conversation that I don't understand, I don't want to stop them in the middle of the sentence and pick up a dictionary just to find the meaning of the word. Can you please tell the brainiacs and intellectuals that not everyone is a walking dictionary?
—Dictionary for Dummies
Dear Dic,
Prudie would ask you a question in return: When you take people to task for using words not a part of "everyday vocabulary," whose everyday vocabulary? The so-called two-dollar words used to show off one's erudition are never welcome, but to talk down to people would seem equally unwelcome. Everyone at a social gathering will never have the same vocabulary, education, etc. (unless you're at a scientific or technical meeting). The underlying question here may well be: Does one converse in the lowest common denominator because someone may not know what you know? In your case, you might ask the speaker, "What does that word mean?" Prudie has done this. Sometimes you can figure it out from the context. As you can tell, Prudie does not support your basic premise, but hopes this does not leave you querulous or irascible.
—Prudie, succinctly