That may be good advice for most people. (Or maybe not.) But me, I’m a chronic floccinaucinihilipilificationist. (It’s one of my more endearing traits.) And no, I don’t use a spellchecker. I don’ need no steenkeeng spellchecker.
Oops. I said I knew how to spell it, not what it means. (‘If you never misuse a word, you’re spending too much time second-guessing yourself/reading the dictionary’?) For some reason I thought ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’ meant ‘nitpicking’. Probably I inferred its meaning incorrectly from the context in which it appeared; that was my standard failure mode, during the era when I assume I picked up that word. (In fairness to my child-self, it was before widespread internet access—but not dictionaries.)
Also, I think I was suffering from some kind of localised cognitive impairment when I wrote that comment (sleep deprivation, perhaps). It strikes me as pretty boorish now, as well as incorrect.
You may have been misled by a Robert Heinlein novel where the soi-disant genius narrators agree that that’s what the word means. (‘Number of the Beast,’ I think.)
Motivated cognition. It’s such a good word to show off with. (At least, it would be if it meant what I thought it meant.) In fact, I’m sure I’ve looked it up before. Maybe this time I can remember permanently.
That may be good advice for most people. (Or maybe not.) But me, I’m a chronic floccinaucinihilipilificationist. (It’s one of my more endearing traits.) And no, I don’t use a spellchecker. I don’ need no steenkeeng spellchecker.
You routinely estimate things as valueless?
Oops. I said I knew how to spell it, not what it means. (‘If you never misuse a word, you’re spending too much time second-guessing yourself/reading the dictionary’?) For some reason I thought ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’ meant ‘nitpicking’. Probably I inferred its meaning incorrectly from the context in which it appeared; that was my standard failure mode, during the era when I assume I picked up that word. (In fairness to my child-self, it was before widespread internet access—but not dictionaries.)
Also, I think I was suffering from some kind of localised cognitive impairment when I wrote that comment (sleep deprivation, perhaps). It strikes me as pretty boorish now, as well as incorrect.
You may have been misled by a Robert Heinlein novel where the soi-disant genius narrators agree that that’s what the word means. (‘Number of the Beast,’ I think.)
I believe you are correct.
Motivated cognition. It’s such a good word to show off with. (At least, it would be if it meant what I thought it meant.) In fact, I’m sure I’ve looked it up before. Maybe this time I can remember permanently.
Do mean you’re sesquipedalian?
No, but I am.