Underused and underrated words

[Viktor77]

The title says it all.

For me, my word is debonair. I haven't heard someone say this word in ages but I think it has a very nice ring to it.

[linguoboy]

For me, my word is debonair. I haven't heard someone say this word in ages but I think it has a very nice ring to it.

There was a fad in my high school days for mispronouncing "suave" and "debonair" as /"swe:v/ and /d@"bo:n@r/ to characterise actions that were anything but. I remember doing this in front of some of my German friends and have them confidentially tell me that's not the correct pronunciation of those words.

[Mr. Z]

The title says it all.

For me, my word is debonair. I haven't heard someone say this word in ages but I think it has a very nice ring to it.

Watch Barney's Suit Song. The original version seems to have disappeared from YouTube, so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz8n2hzQ0t0.

[cromulant]

roborative
salubrious
propaedeutic
munificent
comprehend (meaning 'to encompass or include')
praxis

[Maulrus]

roborative
salubrious
propaedeutic
munificent
comprehend (meaning 'to encompass or include')
praxis

Ashamed to say I only recognize "munificent". Is that where "comprehensive" comes from (as opposed to "comprehensible", which I suppose is more in line with the common definition of "comprehend")?

[Salmoneus]

Of those, I use "salubrious" on a weekly basis, "munificent" on a monthly or seasonal one. I used to use "praxis" a hell of a lot, but I don't really have many circumstances at the moment in which to do so, unless you count online usage. I don't know how often I use particular meanings of words. I do use roborative, but rarely; I have used propaedeutic, but I'm always a little too worried that I've forgotten what it means.

[Salmoneus]

And on topic: millions of them. And apparently I live in a world where words like "salubrious", which I've always thought of as quite well used, are "underused", so probably more than millions.

More annoying to me are words I hear people use and I know what it means and it would be a great word for me to use more frequently because it's very useful - but I just forget to use it. doesn't get loaded up into the instinctual canon of vocabulary, as it were.

LB: that's annoying: I know I've heard/used the same 'mispronounce words for classiness to imply the opposite' trick before, but I can't for the life of me think what words we may have used.

[Soap]

The Norman Conquest of England was 950 years ago, and we still think of French as a language of the sophisticated upper class today. Then again, the Roman Conquest was almost 2000 years ago and we still think of Latin that way. I guess it's never gonna change.

[Ziz]

A good word that ought to be more often used is prelapsarian.

I hate debonair.

[Maulrus]

The Norman Conquest of England was 950 years ago, and we still think of French as a language of the sophisticated upper class today. Then again, the Roman Conquest was almost 2000 years ago and we still think of Latin that way. I guess it's never gonna change.

Who is "we"? French carries certain connotations, but it doesn't really evoke "sophisticated upper class" where I live (except perhaps in a literary sense, where French seems to be the go-to for the educated man; that being said, any language works just as well in that slot, making me think that multilingualism itself evokes upper class moreso than any one language).

[Aurora Rossa]

Who is "we"? French carries certain connotations, but it doesn't really evoke "sophisticated upper class" where I live (except perhaps in a literary sense, where French seems to be the go-to for the educated man; that being said, any language works just as well in that slot, making me think that multilingualism itself evokes upper class moreso than any one language).

What about something like Tok Pisin, though?

[faiuwle]

"Soporific" is an awesome word, with much potential for usage, which you still don't hear very often, for some reason.

[Shm Jay]

That’s because it’s too soporific

[Bristel]

scintillating

[faiuwle]

Everyone falls asleep halfway through the third syllable?

[TaylorS]

Sophmoric.

[Maulrus]

Who is "we"? French carries certain connotations, but it doesn't really evoke "sophisticated upper class" where I live (except perhaps in a literary sense, where French seems to be the go-to for the educated man; that being said, any language works just as well in that slot, making me think that multilingualism itself evokes upper class moreso than any one language).

What about something like Tok Pisin, though?

Well, it depends; Tok Pisin definitely doesn't evoke that on its own, but what kind of native English-speaker would know of Tok Pisin, let alone learn it? Likely only a linguist or somebody doing work in that area; either way, there's potential to be upper-class. (I suppose I'm only thinking about this from the perspective of learning a second language, but that seems more relevant; I can't seem to explain my reasoning succinctly here but if it's ambiguous I'll be glad to try to elaborate.)

[faiuwle]

Sophomoric.

[Cathbad]

Sophomoric.

Wrong. That one's frequent enough; it's sophmoric that's unduly underused.

Especially in academic anthropological articles, I would like people to use more words like related to, influences, and creates, rather than monstrosities like 'hypostatize', which I don't think anyone who uses [it] really knows what it means. (It's not even recognized by my spellchecker, for God's sake!)

[Bristel]

Haecceity

[ná'oolkiłí]

Dehiscence

[Åge Kruger]

Epicaricacy

[Yng]

scurrilous + salacious

[Xephyr]

please
thanks
jigaboo

[dhok]

Overmorrow. Hepatoscopy. Cunnilinguicious.