ameliorate AIBU?

[LightTheFlameThrower]

Is this really a standard word that most people know? (I thought it was a typo)

@Smileyaxolotl1

It’s not common at all. I have an English degree and teach English and while I have heard of it have never used it and don’t know what it means. Pretty sure none of my friends, 2 of whom went to Cambridge use it either.

But it really isn't that unusual!

Genuine question - did you and your friends read a lot growing up?

I did and that's why I think I have a fairly large vocabulary. Plus I used to read 'classic' children's books from E Nesbit and L M Montgomery onwards and their language wasn't 'dumbed down' for children.

(It may also be why the thread on 'Things I didn't know) horrifies me to an extent.

@ThePlantsitter

I think that quotation just shows how language use changes over time. Nobody, surely, would argue that 'predict' is not in common use.

Eh?

Well, it's used every time there's an election for a start. Not to mention a football match when discussing possible results!

I often think this word.
I can't say it.
It's a good word for scientific papers (I write those).

Yes I suppose I wasn't clear. I meant nobody would proffer the argument that it isn't in common use rather than nobody would argue with it but being in common use... Now I am confusing myself. It is in common use. Maybe it wasn't then.

ps:
Since when is predict a fancy word?

recalcitrant is a word I'm trying to get my brain around. It just sounds so cool.

@CharitySchmarity

I know what it means but I don't use it - I think it sounds a bit pretentious.

Why should a word be 'pretentious'? It's just a word!

Why does everything have to be reduced to the basic?

@Milkshake7489

I know it... but the only people I have heard use it outside of an academic textbook are the type of people who try desperately to appear more intelligent than they really are.

Well if they know what it means and use in context, maybe they are quite intelligent?

@Nanny0gg i have always been a voracious reader. I read the entire collection of Charles Dickens books at 12. I’ve read all Jane Austen Bronte sisters etc. I got top marks in my A-levels including in English. I have a degree, a masters and a PhD. I read extensively fiction and non fiction and I have never heard this word before.

@mbosnz I agree regarding people sneering at others using words they don't understand and then calling them pretentious. It won't harm a person to learn new words. This quest for ignorance and pride in it is frustrating.

It's not a word I use often but I've heard it. My husband says it from time to time.

I tend to think it's inverted snobbery, to a degree, @JingsMahBucket.

Seen it used lots including often in professional context.

This quest for ignorance and pride in it is frustrating.

Yes I feel this a lot

@mbosnz exactly. Inverted snobbery... and a form of light bullying.

@ThePlantsitter don’t worry you were perfectly clear the first time... the second explanation made my head spin 😅

I've never heard of it. How is it pronounced? Perhaps I've heard people say it but never seen it written down.

What does it mean

Yep for me but I have a degree in French, generally I would say no to the average Britsh person using this in context.

I quite enjoy the precise origins of words.

Like how gorgeous is "so beautiful I want to vomit" - the gorge being the same root as disgorge etc

Ameliorate is not a word I'd use commonly, but I know what it means, and would assume that legal/business professionals would know it.

So people saying they don't know the word are snobs and bullying? They are just saying they dont know it. It's people who imply these people are ignorant, not well read, uneducated that are sneering !

I didn't know it, now I do, but I'll not use it as it feels clumsy to me. Not a big deal. No doubt I know many words you don't, and vis versa.

@MedSchoolRat

ps: Since when is predict a fancy word?

recalcitrant is a word I'm trying to get my brain around. It just sounds so cool.

Ohh love that one. It's spelled exactly the same in my native language and I used to use it A LOT.

It definitely suits the AIBU section I'd say.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

This quest for ignorance and pride in it is frustrating.

Yes I feel this a lot

Agreed.

Perhaps it’s only declared here, though.

That person is thick as fuck. This also explains how people don't understand COVID transmission at all. Heaven help us.

These two things are not related. You really do have an axe to grind. STFU dear.

@JingsMahBucket

I would consider ameliorate to be a common word, but I just had to Google copacetic from this thread - which I hadn't come across before!

Nope. Not common. I think I may have heard it at some point. Absolutely no idea what it means.