Friday, August 26, 2011

A Plethora of Esoteric Words



Really?

Yes.

My sixteen-year-old son came up to me the other night and asked, "Mom, would you help me find a plethora of esoteric words?"

Really?

Yes.

He wanted to impress his AP English class. Okay. So then he looked at me doubtfully and asked, "Do you even know what esoteric words are?"

Really?

Yes.

Where's the faith? Sheesh. But then, I was on the spot, and had to produce a definition from the depths of my own brain. That instant. My answer? "Uh ... pretty sure esoteric words are big fancy words that people use to appear smarter than everyone else."

My son smiled. "Close enough," he said.

So ... we googled esoteric words, and found a great list at:
http://www.babylon.com/

I was thrilled to see EUPHEMISM on the list! Because, "euphemism" just happens to be one of my ALL-TIME favorite words!! (for reals!!) So ... boy did I feel smart. I already knew an esoteric word in front of my son! YAY me! 

But then he asked me to explain what a euphemism was ... and that was harder. Because I could suddenly only think of sexual euphemisms ... like:

1. Monkey Dance
2. Pole Vaulting
3. Sit and Spin
4. Wanna Get Busy
5. Oh ... oops ... I forgot that my mom-in-law sometimes reads my blog. Sorry to the mom of my monkey dancing partner! :-) bwhahahahaha.

Anyway ...

Here's the simple definition:
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Noun
1. an inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive
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So, my son asked, "You mean instead of telling someone they are a terrible singer, I could use a euphemism and tell them they are not a very good singer?"

Uh.

No.

I said, "No. But, you could say, 'WOW! You hit notes I didn't even know existed!!" and smile.

ha.

Anyhow ... this post has gone on too long. If I was smarter, I could have ended this post with esoteric words ...

*sigh*



Do you have a favorite esoteric word or a favorite euphemism? Share!

8 comments:

  1. I love using loquacious and surreptitious (among many others!). Not sure if they're on the list you provided, but they sound esoteric to me!

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  2. Ah, euphemism is one of my favorites, and I got to teach it to my students. I always used the government. That awesome arbiter of the euphemism. A war department that in the aftermath of Vietnam became the Department of Defense. Right. She's not dumb, she's brain cells short. I love euphemisms!

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  3. Gratuitous is one of my absolute favorite esoteric words to abuse.

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  4. Ah, see, I didn't even know the word esoteric! And now I will use it every chance I get. Your blog is hilarious! I'm so glad you found me :)

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  6. Umm, I hate to break it to y'all but esoteric does not mean speaking big words to make you feel or look smarter! Esoteric is wisdom or knowledge belonging to a select few. Or a special kind of knowledge not understood by the exoteric knowledge given to the masses.... Example, the DE in most words like devil, decline, demote, decline, destroy, defame, dead, demon, degree are all words which have to do with a down grade of intelligence or to numb your right to think for yourself and to take away your sovernty that is rightly fully yours at birth...

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  7. Umm, I hate to break it to y'all but esoteric does not mean speaking big words to make you feel or look smarter! Esoteric is wisdom or knowledge belonging to a select few. Or a special kind of knowledge not understood by the exoteric knowledge given to the masses.... Example, the DE in most words like devil, decline, demote, decline, destroy, defame, dead, demon, degree are all words which have to do with a down grade of intelligence or to numb your right to think for yourself and to take away your sovernty that is rightly fully yours at birth...

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  8. Here's another esoteric example or esoteric etymology- the very word understand which no one ever thought to evaluate really becomes STAND UNDER my wisdom or information that is very important. And this is the very reason we say I hope this is understandable to you because under-stand-a-bull is to stand under a bull or a man/or woman symbolicly who holds knowledge he has gained from a professor from a university who now teaches those willing to learn. And the ble/bull gives most words strenght like bully, bullshit, bullet, able, fable, bible, wable, and so on. As you can see you don't need to speak eloquently or lavishly elite scholarly skyscraper university wide field acre size words to be smart! ¥

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