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ITT: Puff Words and What to Use Instead Anonymous Tue Nov 2 21:59:07 2021 No.19334039 [Reply] [Original]

Looking to simplify my language a la David Foster Wallace/Ernest Hemmingway. Please help me out. What are some common puff words to avoid?

> "Before" instead of "prior to"
> "Use" instead of "utilise"
> "Person" instead of "individual"
> "Now" instead of "at this time"

> DFW on puff words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_sQrxAorDo

Thank you.

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:00:27 2021 No.19334045 Don't worry yourself with arbitrary stylization, it's more important to have consistent characterization so some characters use "Um..uh.." filler words more but others don't

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:02:02 2021 No.19334049 Use puff words if they are appropriate for the character.

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:02:42 2021 No.19334051 >>19334045 I'm not too worried about this, anon. I am more concerned about being florid in my everyday life. I should have made that clearer.

Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:04:31 2021 No.19334059

>>19334039
i always thought dfw was just nervous in this video and pushing out some sort of opinion for garner (guy that i believe is filming this). dfw at other times defends the use of obscure words that are essentially synonymous with way more common words to avoid using the same words too often

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:06:04 2021 No.19334067 >>19334051 I just say or write things in whatever way first comes to mind.

Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:06:26 2021 No.19334071

>>19334051
well in every day life your goal should be to be as clear and concise as possible. make sure people can understand you and you dont sound like you are reading a thesaurus. dfw does a good job of only using terse 'big' words, like 'hoary', when speaking

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:07:57 2021 No.19334077 >>19334039 just hit this stuff in editing by trying to shorten as much as possible

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:11:49 2021 No.19334088 >>19334039 Use the Anglo Saxon over the French. Read Strunk and White.

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:14:28 2021 No.19334096 Use Anglish instead of English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9VYsl9QiCY

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:17:08 2021 No.19334100 File: 290 KB, 1280x1080, 1619052204911.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >simplify my language a la David Foster Wallace

>>	OP Tue Nov 2 22:19:22 2021 No.19334106 >>19334088 I'll check it out >>19334059 This makes sense. I can see he might just be trying to say something for the interview. Very happy with the responses. Thanks a lot guys.

>>	OP Tue Nov 2 22:20:33 2021 No.19334114 >>19334100 lmao

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 22:41:36 2021 No.19334195 >>19334039 artificially avoiding puff words is pretentious

>>	OP Tue Nov 2 22:44:46 2021 No.19334212 >>19334195 What about naturally avoiding puff words?

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 23:37:23 2021 No.19334479 >>19334039 DFW is 80% puff words and his characters are all over-described flat tropes. Just do the opposite of him and you’ll be fine.

Anonymous Tue Nov 2 23:46:03 2021 No.19334536

>>19334039
There are no puff words, words become puff because of poor usage, essentially using big words for simple ideas. These big words are not just synonyms of short and simple words, they are full of nuances and meanings which go beyond the simple word and when you use such a word as a direct synonym of a simple word you ignore that nuance, you reduce it to puff up you sentence. Get a proper dictionary that goes into usage, history, and etymology, use it and learn the nuance and learn to use the word that means exactly what you want to say instead of ignoring nuance so you can use a big word.
>>19334059
No, he is literally talking about what I just outlined above.

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 23:48:55 2021 No.19334548 >>19334536 This. Retards swapping out words using a thesaurus are the problem.

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 23:51:15 2021 No.19334567 >>19334536 You sound like the kind of idiot he’s railing against

>>	Anonymous Tue Nov 2 23:53:27 2021 No.19334579 >>19334567 You just sound like an idiot in general.

Anonymous Tue Nov 2 23:59:08 2021 No.19334618

>>19334536
>No, he is literally talking about what I just outlined above.
No, DFW literally stated what I said he did (he will use longer, synonymous words to avoid saying the same word too much) & he’s being filmed in 240p in his kitchen in this video. Taking every word of his as if it’s the logical result of his axiomatic foundation in such a video is cringe bro

>>	Anonymous Wed Nov 3 00:06:57 2021 No.19334654 >>19334618 So all of his writing is overflowing with puff words? You are taking him literally and ignoring what is actually being said.

>>	Anonymous Wed Nov 3 00:09:25 2021 No.19334661 This prior to business is so fucking cringy because DFW is absolutely wrong.

>>	Anonymous Wed Nov 3 00:11:06 2021 No.19334671 ITT butthurt pseuds

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