Showing off your vocabulary in articles...yay or nay?

I'm not going to comfort the ignorance of others by acting like I'm not educated.
But you have to know your audience- that takes as much skill as using "big words."

 

I suspect it's mainstream in print because of a lot of writers doing exactly what we are discussing here.

It sure as hell is not mainstream in conversation.

I've heard, "I wasn't aware that . . . " hundreds of times.

Never heard someone say, "I wasn't cognizant . . . "

Again, if the word offered ANY more preciseness than "aware" in certain situations, then I'd say go for it if the time is right. But it doesn't. It's just a low speed bump to the reader.

 

I don't know, I've always read "cognizant" as more along the lines of "mindful" than aware. A person can be aware of something and not mindful of it.

 

I guess I would lean towards nay. Even with cognizant. I think BTExpress said it right. Its like a speed bump for the reader.

If it were a news article or a column/editorial, I might understand it more. But not in a typical sports article.

 

What if you used "aware" in the last sentence?

 

State Department spokesperson uses a phrase she doesn't know the meaning of:

But, now we all get a new word we can use:

 

The reward of using obscure words is not worth the reward.

Very few readers will give up on a story because the vocabulary is too simplistic. But if a reader thinks that the writer is being condescending he/she will leave in an instance.

Or as H.L. Mecken said "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

 

At my first stop, another writer and I had an ongoing joke about which words we could get past the desk. He called me once and said, "You got aforementioned and schadenfreude past the desk, so I'm feeling brave..."

He got too brave and tried one that he shouldn't have and our copy chief tore him a new asshole. The chief called him and said, "We get it, you went to (an Ivy League school) nobody cares... Stop doing that shit..."

I had a couple words that I liked that I used a lot. Aforementioned was a favorite. Proselytize was another, Belie was another one. I don't think our desk ever changed those and they wouldn't let much get through.

At my other stops, nothing was ever changed, but that was more a reflection of having shitty copy editors than anything else. I had great ones at my first paper and after I left, I realized how lucky I had been.

 

"Belie" is a fine word that allows you to describe something without getting too bogged down.

"Simona Halep stood toe-to-toe against Maria Sharapova in Saturday's women's final in a manner that belied the Romanian's lack of Grand Slam experience . . . "

 

I was always under the impression that a good vocabulary went hand-in-hand with being a good writer.

 

"Good" vocabulary needs to be effective, rather than sophisticated, first and foremost.

 

Very good point.