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Can we please ban the word "pretentious", or change it into a childish word or random fruit

julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,157
This is infuriatingly common, it's used so freely and without explanation, and in so many cases where it evidently does not apply the word has become literally meaningless yet still steeped in spite and even disgust.

Not to mention that i have not even seen myself a single case where a post accusing something of being pretentious had itself any substance in its accusation, literally being itself pretentious wankery. It's an endless, meaningless cycle that lowers the conversation every single time.

Please, can someone just make a script where every time you write the word it switches for a random adjective or something. It's really draining to read it all the fucking time and it NEVER means anything of substance.
 
Okabe

Okabe

Is Sometimes A Good Bean
Member
Aug 24, 2018
19,893
You know damn well what word the replies are gonna be filled with on this one.
 
Doskoi Panda

Doskoi Panda

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,935
just another elitist screed from the vocal minority. that's my hot take, at least. i'll use words however i wanna do. language evolves, don't you know.

the real shame is that this - /s - is necessary so that people can distinguish this post from a real post
 
Courage

Courage

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,978
NYC
Pretentious is often used as a shorthand for "I'm too lazy to try to understand what this thing is about"
 
OP
OP
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,157
Okabe said:
You know damn well what word the replies are gonna be filled with on this one.
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I know. People are always quick to prove how shitty they are, or how unseriously they take any topic that's not about their stance on american politics or whether Vader has a dickhole in his pants or whatever Star Wars is about these days.

But it's still a problem, and at least they'll be proving it here too.
 

rusty chrome

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,640
I usually just add anyone who uses that word to ignore since pretentious is a word that has lost all meaning, especially on this forum.
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
59,983
It seems silly to ban words because people don't know how to use.
 
whytemyke

whytemyke

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
3,783
Dude you don't get to make a thread about words being useless while also leaning on the word "literally" in it.

I'm all for being a grammar Nazi and a pretentious snob when it comes to language but let's hammer down our priorities here
 
OP
OP
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,157
entremet said:
It seems silly to ban words because people don't know how to use.
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It's silly but it's also an exercise to make people use other words to write the same sentiment.

whytemyke said:
Dude you don't get to make a thread about words being useless while also leaning on the word "literally" in it.

I'm all for being a grammar Nazi and a pretentious snob when it comes to language but let's hammer down our priorities here
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I am using it in its classical sense, i did not mean it in the figurative sense.
 
Tathanen

Tathanen

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,031
Let's start burning the books we don't like while we're at it huh? Language must be stopped!
 

Deleted member 58401

User requested account closure
Banned
Jul 7, 2019
895
John Kowalski said:
This is infuriatingly common, it's used so freely and without explanation, and in so many cases where it evidently does not apply the word has become literally meaningless yet still steeped in spite and even disgust.

Not to mention that i have not even seen myself a single case where a post accusing something of being pretentious had itself any substance in its accusation, literally being itself pretentious wankery. It's an endless, meaningless cycle that lowers the conversation every single time.

Please, can someone just make a script where every time you write the word it switches for a random adjective or something. It's really draining to read it all the fucking time and it NEVER means anything of substance.
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This is hard to accept given how often you used a word like "literally."
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
59,983
John Kowalski said:
It's silly but it's also an exercise to make people use other words to write the same sentiment.



I am using it in its classical sense, i did not mean it in the figurative sense.
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Too authoritarian. Why bend toward compliance over education? I see a future with the CCP for you, OP lol.
 
astro

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
56,888
Plenty of posts made on this forum could be described as pretentious, accurately.
 

Deleted member 18360

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,844
Sometimes things are apparently steeped in pretense and we need an adjective capable of indicating that.
 
The Adder

The Adder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,087
John Kowalski said:
This is infuriatingly common, it's used so freely and without explanation, and in so many cases where it evidently does not apply the word has become literally meaningless yet still steeped in spite and even disgust.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

John Kowalski said:
I know. People are always quick to prove how shitty they are, or how unseriously they take any topic that's not about their stance on american politics or whether Vader has a dickhole in his pants or whatever Star Wars is about these days.

But it's still a problem, and at least they'll be proving it here too.
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preĀ·tenĀ·tious
/prəĖˆten(t)SHəs/
adjective

  1. attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.
    "a pretentious literary device"
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Assuming your personal crusade against the misuse of a word you do not care for should carry equal significance to, or greater significance than, others expressing their views on a subject that directly affects hundreds of millions of lives, and indirectly affects billions of lives, is honestly pretty damn pretentious.

And that's a correct use of the word.
 
AZ Greg

AZ Greg

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
349
The front page is turning into things John Kowalski doesn't like.

Slow down buddy. Or start a blog.
 
nekkid

nekkid

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
21,823
You act as though this site isn't full of pretentiousness. Maybe it's used incorrectly from time to time but there are a hell of a lot of people who deserve to be called out for it.
 
aerts1js

aerts1js

Member
May 11, 2019
1,384
The only take away I got after reading the OP is that we should ban the word "literally."
 
OP
OP
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,157
The Adder said:
Assuming your personal crusade against the misuse of a word you do not care for should carry equal significance to, or greater significance than, others expressing their views on a subject that directly affects hundreds of millions of lives, and indirectly affects billions of lives, is honestly pretty damn pretentious.

And that's a correct use of the word.
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The problem is not that they care about politics. It's that seemingly few topics beside it escape endless mockery about how insignificant they are, the active devaluing of threads that are outside the scope of a small subset of topics.
 
Darryl M R

Darryl M R

The Spectacular PlayStation-Man
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,720
Is it a new age hipster trope to dislike popular words even though their popularity proves that they are effective as a tool of communication?
 
PeakPointMatrix

PeakPointMatrix

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,040
I don't think I've even seen anyone use that word on here in the last few months. In fact, the only egregious example I can think of is that one thread where this guy was mad at a movie and called it pretentious... can't remember the name though.

Anyway, I'm sure someone can write you a script.
 

Deleted member 4260

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,630
I don't see it used that often on this forum, honestly.

I do think it's a meaningless criticism much like calling something overrated is, though. Personally I find that more annoying and I see it plenty here.
 
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smileyforall220

smileyforall220

Banned
Mar 3, 2019
1,831
I refuse to drop the word pretentious when it comes to some art. If you want, I can just use the shorthand word: lazy. A lot of the post modern and later stuff coming out now is just absolute trash. When the concept is 99.9 percent more than the actual execution/craft, then I will happily call it pretentious art. And I say that as a professional artist.
 
The Adder

The Adder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,087
John Kowalski said:
The problem is not that they care about politics. It's that seemingly few topics beside it escape endless mockery about how insignificant they are, the active devaluing of threads that are outside the scope of a small subset of topics.
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My point is that this particular subject is not of any real import, and that particular piece of your sentence is assigning it the value of its being treated as though it were not important being evidence of others treating subjects that are of equal import to or greater import than that one as though they were less important. This topic doesn't carry the weight of that particular subject and thus cannot serve to prove that point. Your point would have been made better including only the Vader portion. Thus an object lesson on the purpose and use of the term "pretentious" and why it needs no ban.
 
valuv

valuv

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,604
Erasing innocuous words is a great idea. We should all aim to become morons just to placate people
 

____

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,734
Miami, FL
I had a period of about a month where I would block anyone unironically using the word pretentious. They're still blocked.
 
Soapbox Killer

Soapbox Killer

Member
Oct 28, 2017
27,072
John Kowalski said:
I know. People are always quick to prove how shitty they are, or how unseriously they take any topic that's not about their stance on american politics or whether Vader has a dickhole in his pants or whatever Star Wars is about these days.

But it's still a problem, and at least they'll be proving it here too.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Isn't this...
 
low-G

low-G

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,144
Eh I think it's used fine most of the time.

But yeah some people do use it for works possessing great culture / gravitas, rather than a hollow affectation thereof.
 
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