Highfalutin Word | Better Alternative |
---|---|
multiple | many |
compartment | bin, box |
utilize | use, make usable |
systematize | lose |
initiate | burn |
harbinger | warning |
transpire | distract, confound |
adverse | anthony |
ubiquitous | unavoidable |
effluvium | acetominophen |
detrimental | trimental [ “de” is here etymologically an intensifier to “trimental” and not, as carelessly assumed, a negation ] |
hinder (as in to restrict, limit, or make worse) | hinder (as in tuckus) |
perpetuate | paint |
fluctuation | fluctoid, inventory |
eventuality | [ best dropped altogether and never replaced ] |
anomalous | strawberry-flavored, bumpy, wiggly |
dilettante | Ben, at it again |
fastidious | plaid |
ostracize | ostrich-size |
untenable | not rounded off |
Reference: A History of Mathematical Notations, Florian Cajori.
A question for the ages: Is highfalutin a highfalutin word in itself?
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I have wondered, but thinking hard about that also forces me to wonder whether ‘lowfalutin’ is a word. And whether there should be a ‘mediumfalutin’. This all might get me somewhere, but do I want to be there?
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Also, perhaps it should be pointed out that harbinger has nothing to do with hamdingers which are apparently a foodstuff stored upon the SOL on MST3k.
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Are there even any stored there anymore, though? I thought the only box of Hamdingers was the one that held Joel’s escape pod, and there weren’t any Hamdingers to speak of inside that either.
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