/lit/ - Literature

>>3048571

>tfw I have to tone down my verbosity for fear of sounding pretentious to my plebeian friends and co-workers in real life

>read a lot
>learn tons of new words
>never hear them spoken so when I try to use them in conversation I butcher the pronunciation and look like an idiot
French words are the worst. So many silent letters.

The thing is I can understand many words, I just can't seem to add them to my vocabulary. If I saw them on paper, even without context, I could tell you what it meant, but if it isn't in front of me, my mind seems to not know that the word even exists

>Type out a casual response to someone online
>"LOL Y U GOTTA PULL THE THESOURUS OUT TO SOUND SMART???"

>I will never remember to use boondoggled or hornswoggle in regular conversation

>>3048617
>Nobody ever uses bloviate

>>3048634
Shit, if you were a political commentator, you could practically name your show that.

You are all sad, pretentious twats.

You're probably the ones that masturbate over shit like Ulysses.

>>3048634
>mfw I used bloviate the other day in casual conversation and my friend didn't know what it meant

Come on now. I like bloviate.

>>3048584
http://howjsay.com/

Learn how to pronounce words and feel slightly condescended at the same time!

>>3048590
you have to make a conscious effort to use words that you've learned

After a few times using a word, it will automatically become part of your vocabulary

I've got the same problems as most of the people here, but I remember finding an old piece of paper where I wrote down words I didn't know the meaning of while I was reading.

I knew every single one of them. It was like I had leveled up in real life/

>>3048836
I'll naturally use ridiculous-ass words in casual conversation. I think it's a little off, because I usually use pretty simple words to avoid coming off pretentious.

>>3048584
Fucking ennui man. Pronounced in en-nu-ee for the longest time

>read mostly in English
>don't live in English-speaking country
>stunted vocabulary in native tongue
when I'm with friends I just pepper my speech with English terms, but I can't do it anywhere else without coming off as unbearably pretentious.

>>3048899
I have the same problem. I'm lucky that my sister studies language(s) and I talk to her the most of all the real life people I know. I can always ask her to correct me.

My problem is that I'm pronouncing words too carefully and that it doesn't sound natural in my mother language. And that my spoken English is shit because I literally never speak in English.

>>3048899
Fuck yeah, foreign-bro.

>>3048590

that's called passive vocabulary

i think you are mixing things. One is not getting new words and another not being able to use them because you can't or because you feel frightened. I think that in a colloquial context colloquial words have to be used, even if the two or more people understand the formal one. It is more important to be aware and know how to use your vocabulary in different registers than speaking in the same one in every -different situation-. If your friends don't know a particular word that everyone one should know, the are illiterate. If just you know it, most probably it is inadequate for the situation because it will differ from the general tone and register.

A thousand times this
>>3048580
What's the point of learning new words, if you'll constantly have to dumb yourself down? I have a fairly extensive vocabulary that I'll never get to use because the motherfuckers I'll be around will not get it, and get hostile instead. Fucking US, man. Anti-anything-resembling-intellectual country if there ever was one.

>>3048580
>>3048611
Man, this is sad.

>>3048980
meh I use overly verbose words all the time, the only people that call me out on it are my close friends anyway

it might make you sound pretentious but it honestly doesn't matter what other people think

and like it or not there is some value to knowing how to vary your vocabulary depending upon your audience

>>3048611
all the time.

even on /lit/ once or twice.

From reading heavily while working as a labourer, I've acquired the habit of mixing vulgarity and eloquence. 'Fuck' is such a versatile word.

>>3048899
>2(Th
True said, have the same shit here.
living in the netherlands, but most of time use english terms to describe things. But then when I am talking to someone from the uk I cant seem to find my words

>>3049932
I do love my fucks and swears, but maybe might just be a walking stereotype. Us Scots apparently use 'em too much.

Fuck.

Fuuuuuuck.

>>3049945
but maybe I'm just a*

I'd delete it but half you cunts use browser mods and it wouldn't go away.

>>3048663
All of /lit/ is like this

lurkmoar

And for your information, I masturbate to A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man.

This is how it sounds like when I speak with my friends (dialogue in Spanish, words between {} are in English)
>me: hey, let's go to watch random movie
>x: {make no mistake}, that movie is {shit}. {besides} I don't have much {moneys}.
>me: ehm, ok, I could pay your ticket?
>x: that'd be {awesome}... {oh wait} I already owe you plenty of money.

Sometimes feel I'm in fucking Puerto Rico, for God's sake. I wish it'd stop.

It probably means the neurons in your brains just kind of slow.
That is unless it has something to do with some sort of social problem.

>>3049981
I'm not alone?

here's a tip:

talk simply, write eloquently

it will make you be liked by both normal people and literati

>>3050008
I'm Spaniard, I feel the same. Some Spanish people are destroying both languages

>>3050008
Oh God, it's scary how accurately this portrays every single conversation i've ever had with my Puerto Rican family.

>>3049899
It'd be cool even to be able to vary it, but I constantly have to keep it at a supersimple level, wesley

>use big words in casual conversation
>get called a faggot by your friends and family

the usual course of events