here's the no-kidding list of most of the words and people i had to look up to understand the article before I stopped caring that I didn't know some of them:
bloviation
populist
egalitarian
effete
gallic
francophobic
pillory
gallantry
Vichy
Marcel Ophuls
paean
coruscating
brevity
yellow-dog democrats
Foucault
Balibar
Derrida
6 comments:
After the first sentence of that article, I wouldn't have read another word. I wouldn't feel stupid, either. Quite the opposite. I quickly concluded that the author is a pompous ass. Casey, stay away from Slate and go back to the basics. I find I can get all the worldly knowledge I need from reading my monthly subscription of Readers Digest. (And, they even have a Word Power activity each month where you can brush up on your vocab!)
L.
I agree with laurel, a pontifical purveyor of such bombastic circumlocutions that elects to persue obstreperous reiteration of his/her own rigamarole has another thing coming!
-Scott
P.S.
I understand about 3/4 of those words, but the author uses them like a cult-inductee would drop names of famous gurus he personally met. Have YOU met Ramtha? He's amazing, by the way.
In other words, the author is either a self-educated elitist, graduate student, or PhD who feels that by vomiting out terms learned in their pursuits, will somehow justify their status or otherwise pay the dues for the Student Loan collector. Either way, the author probably got paid...
Foucault is worth checking out, though. I recommend his book "Madness & Civilization", on the origins of the mental institution.
Interesting comments by both. However, I have to say, after having read many articles by Chris Hitchens, I think you both should do the same before blanket-stating him as an ass. Yes, he's pretty full of himself and his words, but read some of his articles on Iraq, or watch his debates, or something. He's a genius that exists on a different plane from the rest of us.
I like Readers Digest too, but if you like, check out hitchensweb.com - his article 'Al-Qaida is Losing' is amazing.
Pompous ass aside, I'm a vocab freak. In fact, brevity is one of my all-time favorite words. It's very difficult to work into conversation.
Foucault is a mixed bag - I'm not a big fan, but definitely give it a try.
Oh, I love vocabulary too. I just feel it should be a conversation starter, not a stopper. I'll have to check out Mr. Hitchens' other writings.
Foucault is interesting to me--not perfect by any means--simply because of his methodology. He can be a bit painful, too. I for one am not exactly familiar with obscure French treatises written in 1820, though he makes allowances for his audience some times.
But "Madness" is neat to me, in the same way Marvin Harris' "Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches". All in the approach of analyzing things in context and history. Harris is a lot more fun to read, though, that's for sure. Whee!
Scott
my vocabulary (not to mention grammar, and spelling)is very limited next to my english major sis. with out thinking too hard, i do know a few right off the bat. good for me!!!!
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