Words you don’t fully understand

Honeypickle · 2021-06-26T12:21:04+00:00

Are there words you use quite frequently in conversation without 100% fully knowing what they mean? I just did it with the word “aggregate”. Another example would be “arbitrary” . Does anyone else do this?

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 26/06/2021 13:24

How do you use them in convo if you dont know what they mean??

Original poster

Honeypickle · 26/06/2021 13:26

@lets well I know roughly what they mean I think but I would find it difficult to give a concise definition. I think aggregate means total and arbitrary means random, but I’m not entirely sure!

OP posts:

OwlBasket · 26/06/2021 13:29

Meh. Not really. I tend to look up words when I’m not entirely sure of their meaning 🤷‍♀️

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 26/06/2021 13:30

Ah ok. Not the same but for years 'albeit' absolutely baffled me. I know the word and used it in convo, but I had no idea that it was spelt like that and when I was reading the word just perplexed me. I had to ask someone in the end.

cariadlet · 26/06/2021 13:31

I don't use words myself unless I understand them but there are plenty of words which I come across regularly and I think I get the gist of from the context but couldn't define.

I finally got round to looking up "ineffable" after watching Good Omens and realised that my guess had been completely wrong.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 26/06/2021 13:31

When reading it I though it was 'al-bite'. Then I was more confused because I knew thats not a word....

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 26/06/2021 13:38

English is my 2nd language so yes, I've done this a lot.

I've been in a lot of situations when I didn't understand a word of two but I understood the context so I guessed the meaning.
Then I used those words in similar situations (partially to test their meanings, but also to just practice them).
it was a good way of learning the language.

if I was very curious I'd look up the meaning. but it was quicker to learn by repetition.

when I first heard the word aggregate it was about a football game. they won on aggregate. I thought it meant "on aggravate" ie because their tactic to annoy & rattle the opponent paid off.

I also didn't know that nibble was a word so when my bf (now DH) asked if I wanted a nipple (and there was no context, obv meant if I was hungry) I was quite confused as to what was going on🤣

topcat2014 · 26/06/2021 13:40

I don't know what a bigot actually is
(although I get that it is a 'bad' thing)

MellowBird85 · 26/06/2021 13:43

Ambivalent. I always thinks it means apathetic but that’s not right is it.

Also never understood the term wax lyrical!

cariadlet · 26/06/2021 13:52

@MellowBird85 ambivalent means having mixed feelings about something.

If a friend suggested a joint family holiday, you might feel ambivalent about the prospect because you really need a break after the last 18 months and you love spending time with your friend but you can't stand her dh and your own dc get even more loud and overexcited than normal when they're running around with her dc.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 26/06/2021 13:53

@MellowBird85

Ambivalent. I always thinks it means apathetic but that’s not right is it.

Also never understood the term wax lyrical!

@MellowBird85

ambivalent means you have mixed or opposing feelings or ideas about someone or something

when you kind of hate & love something or just can't really decide how you feel, no strong convictions either way.
the anti-Marmite view🤣

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 26/06/2021 13:53

All these words can be googled. You dont need MN here....

cariadlet · 26/06/2021 13:57

@topcat2014 a bigot is someone who has very strong , often unreasonable, beliefs which they will hold onto in defiance of evidence or reasoning which disproves them.

It's especially applied to someone who is prejudiced against a person or set of people just because of the group they belong to whether that's their age, sex, class, nationality or anything else.

cariadlet · 26/06/2021 14:01

@MellowBird85 wax lyrical means to rave enthusiastically about something. It's a fairly poetic term. I assume it comes from the astronomical sense of growing bigger (we talk about a waxing or waning moon).

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 26/06/2021 14:06

[quote cariadlet]@MellowBird85 wax lyrical means to rave enthusiastically about something. It's a fairly poetic term. I assume it comes from the astronomical sense of growing bigger (we talk about a waxing or waning moon). [/quote]
@cariadlet

yup. it does come from wax & wane.
I wonder if anyone ever uses "wane lyrical "🤣
there's also "wax poetic" which means using poetical, flowery words/language.

PrincessNymeria · 26/06/2021 14:09

If I'm not sure that a word means what I think it means, I don't use it until I've checked.

I'm more likely to know how to spell a word, and what it means, but not know how to pronounce it.

missmopple · 26/06/2021 14:12

But why don't you just look the words up?

Even if you don't possess a dictionary, there is this marvellous invention called google where you can look up meanings of words.

Garbagepailgal · 26/06/2021 14:18

@Letsallscreamatthesistene

When reading it I though it was 'al-bite'. Then I was more confused because I knew thats not a word....

Haha me too

6788995urgh · 26/06/2021 14:39

Why are pp's telling @MellowBird85 what ambivalent means? They said they think it mean something often, but know it doesn't
So I'd assume knows what it means. Why are people gagging to correct somone? It's embarrassing for you. I hope you don't behave like that irl. As it makes you look like a patronising arse.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 26/06/2021 14:41

@6788995urgh

Why are pp's telling *@MellowBird85* what ambivalent means? They said they think it mean something often, but know it doesn't So I'd assume knows what it means. Why are people gagging to correct somone? It's embarrassing for you. I hope you don't behave like that irl. As it makes you look like a patronising arse.

Agreed. I mean, people can do what they want but to spend time typing out meanings just makes you look a bit of a twat. People can use google. They dont need someones ego to type definitions.

cariadlet · 26/06/2021 14:55

@6788995urgh

Why are pp's telling *@MellowBird85* what ambivalent means? They said they think it mean something often, but know it doesn't So I'd assume knows what it means. Why are people gagging to correct somone? It's embarrassing for you. I hope you don't behave like that irl. As it makes you look like a patronising arse.

@MellowBird85 said she thought ambivalent meant one thing but then added "but that's not right is it". To me, that implied that she'd like to know what the actual meaning was.

Posting a definition was supposed to be helpful; I wasn't writing it to correct her. I've come across loads of posts today with poor spelling and poor grammar which I haven't corrected; that would have been rude and patronising because it wasn't the point of the threads and posters hadn't asked anyone to check their written English.

What on earth is wrong with posting the meaning of words on a thread which is about the meaning of words?

MellowBird85 · 26/06/2021 15:18

@cariadlet there’s nothing wrong at all with giving a polite explanation as you did. Think it was the arsey way some other PP’s said “There is such thing as Google you know - der!”

For clarity I have of course googled ambivalent in the past but I still liken it to apathetic

cariadlet · 26/06/2021 15:22

@MellowBird85 Thanks for the reply. Glad I didn't misunderstand and offend you. 🙂

WeatherwaxOn · 26/06/2021 15:26

No, I don't do this. I have a number of friends with autism/learning difficulties so only use words I can explain.

Reloxa · 26/06/2021 15:31

Ontological. I heard it all the time in art school and can never remember what it means.