# Pretentious (or "SAT words") you use in conversation **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [September 19, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523 "2022-09-19T15:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BG5150](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/bg5150/32/38521_2.png) [@BG5150](https://community.goactuary.com/u/BG5150)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/1 "2022-09-19T15:59:58Z")
Some time back, I was branded “pretentious” by a friend of a friend because I used some “SAT words” in conversation. Maybe because I read a lot, or enjoy leaning words, I tend to use some “big” words, kinda like you usually only run into while studying for the SAT or something. My wife enjoys when I do it, but she points it out to me so I don’t come off as a douche-wad to other people. I don’t really care though. Some words I’ve used with some regularity over the years: Sartorial Quotidian Maffick Subterfuge Terse Banal Esoterica ---
**Author:** ![Maphistos\_Sidekick](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/maphistos_sidekick/32/84973_2.png) [@Maphistos\_Sidekick](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Maphistos_Sidekick)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/2 "2022-09-19T16:09:09Z")
I’ve been using “defenestrate” with increasing frequency due to the political situation in Russia. ---
**Author:** ![SredniVashtar](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/srednivashtar/32/2894_2.png) [@SredniVashtar](https://community.goactuary.com/u/SredniVashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/3 "2022-09-19T16:10:49Z")
The US once defenestrated a guy. Probably. ---
**Author:** ![Mathman](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/mathman/32/14042_2.png) [@Mathman](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Mathman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:18pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/4 "2022-09-19T16:18:59Z")
I’m a bit of an architecture nerd and I’m not afraid to use the word fenestration. Bonus points if you can use it as the antepenultimate word in a sentence. I also enjoy the word abstruse. ---
**Author:** ![Rastiln](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/rastiln/32/77682_2.png) [@Rastiln](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Rastiln)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/5 "2022-09-19T16:19:25Z")
Impetus is one I use every few weeks when I need to know the impetus of something. Circumambulate if I want to ask somebody to walk around the building with me. I love perfectly cromulent words. Terse, banal, and subterfuge (though I can’t think of a good way to slip the latest into a work email) seem commonplace IMO. Maybe banal is a little unorthodox. ---
**Author:** ![BruteForce](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/bruteforce/32/175_2.png) [@BruteForce](https://community.goactuary.com/u/BruteForce)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/6 "2022-09-19T16:21:50Z")
I use superfluous sometimes, does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Rastiln](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/rastiln/32/77682_2.png) [@Rastiln](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Rastiln)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/7 "2022-09-19T16:22:49Z")
I had somebody thank me for teaching them the word “conflate” recently, when “confuse” or “mix up” was not exactly the cromulent term. ---
**Author:** ![BG5150](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/bg5150/32/38521_2.png) [@BG5150](https://community.goactuary.com/u/BG5150)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:23pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/8 "2022-09-19T16:23:48Z")
I use “crepuscular” more than the average bear, too. ---
**Author:** ![Rastiln](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/rastiln/32/77682_2.png) [@Rastiln](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Rastiln)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/9 "2022-09-19T16:24:29Z")
Oh, nonplussed and bemused. Bemused is fun for sounding way different than its meaning. ---
**Author:** ![John.S.Mill](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/john.s.mill/32/9771_2.png) [@John.S.Mill](https://community.goactuary.com/u/John.S.Mill)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:27pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/10 "2022-09-19T16:27:53Z")
> [@BG5150](#): > > Sartorial > Quotidian > Maffick > Subterfuge > Terse > Banal > Esoterica don’t know any of these words ---
**Author:** ![John.S.Mill](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/john.s.mill/32/9771_2.png) [@John.S.Mill](https://community.goactuary.com/u/John.S.Mill)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:29pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/11 "2022-09-19T16:29:53Z")
I used to memorize the SAT words. I remember the first ones being abate, abet, abeyance. ---
**Author:** ![jraven](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/jraven/32/229_2.png) [@jraven](https://community.goactuary.com/u/jraven)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/12 "2022-09-19T17:52:13Z")
> [@Rastiln](#): > > Oh, nonplussed and bemused. Nonplussed is useless, because you can’t know how your audience will interpret it (and whether they will think you are using it correctly). The original (and outside the US, still current) meaning is to be confused by something… whereas the popular (to the extent the word is popular) US meaning is to be unperturbed by something. So it either means confused or not confused, depending on the geography and education of your audience. ---
**Author:** ![Triweasel](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/triweasel/32/159_2.png) [@Triweasel](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Triweasel)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/13 "2022-09-19T17:54:20Z")
I’ve never heard nonplussed in the second context. Always meant confused afaik. ---
**Author:** ![Mathman](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/mathman/32/14042_2.png) [@Mathman](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Mathman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/14 "2022-09-19T18:05:27Z")
![YARN | I'm completely nonplussed. Is that the right word? | Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000) - S01E06 The Wire | Video gifs by quotes | af639ce9 | 紗](https://community.goactuary.com/uploads/default/original/3X/0/8/088465b06eb47d4bf339badcec1ca3774d589280.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Ajstudies](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/ajstudies/32/12532_2.png) [@Ajstudies](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Ajstudies)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/15 "2022-09-19T18:06:05Z")
Even without using any of those words I used to get teased for using “college words”. My vocabulary isn’t even all that impressive, and I rarely use “big words” on purpose. (Although “terse” isn’t all that big.) But whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Mathman](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/mathman/32/14042_2.png) [@Mathman](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Mathman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/16 "2022-09-19T18:12:59Z")
Oh, I used the word ‘attenuate’ once and it seemed almost nobody knew what that meant. Including my boss, who was a PhD economist and pretty well read. Or so I thought! ---
**Author:** ![tommie.frazier](https://community.goactuary.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@tommie.frazier](https://community.goactuary.com/u/tommie.frazier)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/17 "2022-09-19T18:16:44Z")
You’ll remember all the guys that said all those big words he must’ve learned in college flaccid ---
**Author:** ![SredniVashtar](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/srednivashtar/32/2894_2.png) [@SredniVashtar](https://community.goactuary.com/u/SredniVashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/18 "2022-09-19T19:02:06Z")
> [@BruteForce](#): > > I use superfluous sometimes, does that count? Only when it is. ---
**Author:** ![Klaymen](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/klaymen/32/194_2.png) [@Klaymen](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Klaymen)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/19 "2022-09-19T19:10:50Z")
> [@Mathman](#): > > Bonus points if you can use it as the antepenultimate word in a sentence. _I don’t know what antepenultimate means._ Job’s done! ---
**Author:** ![Breadmaker](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/breadmaker/32/83065_2.png) [@Breadmaker](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Breadmaker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 7:24pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523/20 "2022-09-19T19:24:52Z")
Escutcheons (@Mathman 🙃) [Next page](https://community.goactuary.com/t/pretentious-or-sat-words-you-use-in-conversation/6523.md?page=2)