Servetus: Now less embarrassed about her vocabulary
If you’ve read here for a while, you’ll be aware that people regularly tell me they had to look up the meaning of a word I used. I’ve seen at least three people say this to Richard Armitage about the word “self-aggrandizement” (that is the U.S. spelling, he spelled it with “s”). Feeling less alone.
That’s not even an esoteric word! Sigh. (And he misspelled “lose.”) 😀
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judiang said this on June 25, 2016 at 5:12 pm |
Yeah, but that was a great pun. If they’re not in a union, they are all “loose.” LOL. Even if it was unintentional.
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 5:13 pm |
you’re in good company then 🙂 suspect the prospect of GB breaking up as a result of this through internal independence referendums drove that post. But unlike the exited David C the others are no such fools. News today said the Scots would think on it within the next 2 years but she would only ask for it if she was sure of the outcome as she couldn’t afford another No. Some politicians less stupid than others… And the Irish in the North have just increased their requests of their already legal 2nd passport, Irish, which is and will remain European.
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Hariclea said this on June 25, 2016 at 5:49 pm |
I looked it up too (I am one who is constantly looking up words from your posts though). I had always thought that it meant making yourself grand or self important so I looked it up when he tweeted it because I thought my perceived definition didn’t quite fit — I’m glad I looked it up.
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sparkhouse1 said this on June 25, 2016 at 6:33 pm |
I applaud folks who, like me, take the time to look up a word. It’s part of lifelong learning. Some words are so perfect for conveying a certain meaning, the expression of what was previously inexpressible, a puzzle piece falling into place, confession: a little joy flares in my heart.
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Rebecca said this on June 25, 2016 at 6:55 pm |
I love dictionaries. They are a major time suck for me.
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 7:50 pm |
Especially the weighty hard-backed ones; makes knowledge transfer almost a physical exercise.
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Rebecca said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:20 pm |
I used to carry my German / Latin and German / English dictionaries (huge tomes) back and forth with me every summer from Europe. I’d always end up having to open my bag to have them scanned individually because they set off airport security: too dense. I admit that I was happy when I got the DVD version of the Latin one, lol. But I still lugged the German / English one around.
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:25 pm |
Hooray for well-developed vocabularies! And for those who love (and know how to use) dictionaries. 🙂 I was one of those moms who would reply “Look it up” when the kids asked what a word meant. (Something I learned from my Dad. :))
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zan said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:19 pm |
I got a big dictionary as a graduation present from my mom. She got one, too, back in the day … sigh. Words, a source of infinite delight!
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:37 pm |
A major benefit of being in this fandom is quite simply linguistics. Love, love, love (pun intended).
Here I find not only English (thankfully a type of English which goes beyond ‘you know’ and ‘like’), but also German and sometimes French. We’ve got our own little Union going on here, come to think of it.
So, throw in a word or two which some of us are unfamiliar with. I personally love it❤️
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Mermaid said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:32 pm |
I just had to google “what is a cockwomble?” Brexit is really good for my slang.
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:36 pm |
😂 Not directed at a woman. Can’t blame you for looking it up.
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Mermaid said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:47 pm |
It’s not a word in common usage in the US. Probably Donald Trump had to look it up, too. I was reading an article about things Scots tweeted at him and I didn’t understand about a quarter of the tweets.
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:48 pm |
Probably a good thing you didn’t understand😂
Would Trump know proper use of a dictionary? Would he be interested in expanding his vocabulary? I read today that a secret to his rhetorical success is his use of short (unfinished) sentences of no more than 10 letters. 10 letters each!
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Mermaid said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:58 pm |
yeah, he speaks like a fourth grader.
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 8:59 pm |
Sad that you can measure someone’s success by how badly articulated that person appears.
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Mermaid said this on June 25, 2016 at 9:01 pm |
Something that interests me about this in general is that he isn’t paying the penalty that George W Bush paid for his general inarticulacy. I don’t know if times are changing, or the core supporters are changing or what, but W always got backwind from his own constituency for how bad he was at simply talking. There was speculation about whether he was dyslexic — on the morning after the 9/11 attacks he was supposed to be meeting with Newt Gingrich to talk about getting speech coaching.
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 11:23 pm |
Ah that means they were truly having fun and giving him a piece of their very practical and no-nonsense minds 😄
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Hariclea said this on June 25, 2016 at 11:19 pm |
Oh and would you mind sharing the article? Could use a good laugh 😉
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Hariclea said this on June 25, 2016 at 11:21 pm |
http://qz.com/716915/donald-trumps-visit-to-scotland-inspired-some-very-creative-british-profanity/
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 11:25 pm |
Awww thank you! This made my day with a wee laugh.. made me a bit homesick too for the pub conversations after work back in Edi. I can hear it said in the appropriate accent 😊
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Hariclea said this on June 26, 2016 at 12:02 am |
I wish they’d tell him how they really feel… ROFL at these!
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jholland said this on June 26, 2016 at 5:47 am |
I guess they did, it’s just that only Scotland understands what they said, lol
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Servetus said this on June 26, 2016 at 5:48 am |
Oh, but how much more satisfying I find “ya hamster heedit bampot”… I may find myself using the term almost affectionately for the next knucklehead I encounter. =)
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jholland said this on June 26, 2016 at 5:57 am |
here’s also a quick translation of some and i hadn’t read about the red balls at his feet LOL
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Hariclea said this on June 26, 2016 at 12:41 pm
sorry, forgot the link http://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/twitter-battle-scotland-vs-trump.429287/
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Hariclea said this on June 26, 2016 at 12:41 pm
People have been telling me that since I was in kindergarten, always with such a tone of accusation. It has kept me from developing friendships with people I would have liked to, because they treated talking to me like an exhausting chore.
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alyssabethancourt said this on June 25, 2016 at 9:11 pm |
One kind of hopes people will just ask if they don’t understand. I do think there are people who use vocabulary to wound or demonstrate superiority, but I don’t think either you or I or, frankly, most people are among them. If people want to be snooty they will find many ways to do it.
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 9:15 pm |
My husband and I can spend an afternoon with the OED and the etymology dictionaries in our house. Today, we spent 20 minutes going over the histories and roots of the words ‘couture’ vs. ‘sew’. (I’m sewing a Regency gown, so. . . yeah. Nerdlove.)
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heatherparish said this on June 25, 2016 at 10:52 pm |
Love the OED. I’m guessing Armitage is familiar, too, given the kind of prep that actors who do Shakespeare often have to do to prepare.
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Servetus said this on June 25, 2016 at 11:26 pm |
The OED should be standard issue for actors of any stripe – along with a quality compendium of Shakespeare’s words. They’re awesome for giving meaning and context as the words were used in the 16th/17th centuries, as well as scholarly speculation on Shakespeare’s intended use of the words (and how he altered or invented them).
RA undoubtedly used both in his training, if not since.
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heatherparish said this on June 25, 2016 at 11:31 pm |