> wrote in message
...
> On Tuesday, August 5, 2014 1:00:51 PM UTC-4, sf wrote:
>
>
>> Those fancy French words are best left to the French, British and
>>
>> musicians. Americans hear a word pronounced "fort" and think of it as
>>
>> an abbreviation of fortification. If we mean it's not a "strong
>>
>> point", that's what we say...unless (of course) we're trying to
>>
>> demonstrate how cosmopolitan we are. Then it's foot in mouth.
>
>
> "Best left to"?
>
> If we all cared about being well-read and well-informed in general,
> regardless of whether we had the chance to go to college or not, a lot
> of not-so-long words wouldn't sound "cosmopolitan," just part of the
> normal vocabulary of someone over 30 or even 20.
>
> I seem to remember an article by a teacher that told of how a class
> of teens in a middle-class(?) high school flatly refused to contemplate
> the idea that one purpose of high school is to expand your vocabulary.
> Quote (not verbatim) from a student: "If you people (adults) would only
> talk like everyone else, we wouldn't need all those extra words."
>
> Reminds me of how some people say that nowadays, the purpose of college
> is to prove you have a high school education.
>


I used to have a boss who would pause and pause to think of a word, then say
it and complete his sentence. I would as "what does **that word** mean?"
He would then just use a normal, simple word that meant the same thing.