Showing off your vocabulary in articles...yay or nay?

Imagine how I felt when I learned "matriculate" didn't mean efficiently moving the ball down the field on a time-consuming drive.

Damn you, Hank Stram.

(And the desk people who obviously didn't know, either....)

 

Like so many other things, if it stops the flow of the story, that's not good.

I think if the word is used in a context where it's easy to undertand the meaning, it's fine. If it's used in a way where a decent portion of the readers are going to wonder what it means, probably not so much...

 

Yes, most of the posters here -- and many newspaper readers -- know what dyspeptic, ostensibly, cognizant and consternation mean. But there are probably more readers who lack "well-developed reading habits." As a newspaper writer, it is your JOB to make things readable to the largest segment of readers. So, just because you might use ostensibly without thinking twice, you should rarely (if ever) use it in a newspaper story. Hell, I drop F-bombs all the time, but doesn't mean I'm using one in a story. Now, if you are writing magazine pieces or books or something targeting a more specialized audience, go for it.

Yeah, I think you should also avoid sports "jargon" but sports terms are unavoidable in writing the story. I would guess that id anyone can list examples of jargon, it would probably be something I would always change, unless it's in a quote. And even then ...

 

For some reason, I don't remember exactly when or who wrote this piece of advice from his father, but I've never forgotten the advice. If memory serves, it might have been Mike Royko, but don't quote me on it.

What I remember was the writer was recalling when he was 15 and was writing a sports column for his local newspaper. He wrote that he used the word alacrity in his writing. He said his father looked up the word in a dictionary, then said, "I see by the dictionary that 'alacrity' means 'quick.' Next time, say what you mean." He then said it took a journalism professor an hour and a half to make the same point some years later.

I've also read somewhere that it's not necessarily the words you use or the great soundbite-worthy quotes you can come up with that make for truly great writing. It's the passion you have for the writing that stands out and will show up with even more modest vocabulary.

 

Alacrity doesn't meant "quick." It means "a quick and cheerful readiness to do something." That carries a deeper meaning and is the point of sometimes using a so-called bigger word -- you're getting at something more specific that a common word doesn't convey.

 

The Colts had trouble with the Steelers' defensive pressure.

Blitz packages isn't terribly jargony-y but I can think of much worse ...

James Harrison, in a 3-point, was effective coming off the edge in the Steelers' blitz package against the Colts.
But Defensive coordinator Jay Farrar cooked up a new wrinkle and rolled will linebacker Bobby McDaniel to the flat as cornerback Anton Rolle was the point of the blitz spear.

Now that's some bullshit but I've read and heard speculative thoughts on the virtue of c cup quarterbacks versus u cup quarterbacks and things to a point that me, as a former college football player, have no fucking idea what they're talking about.