Ribald, Boffo, Socko, Cume, whopping, cracked, gangbusters, precipitated, shrunk, perennial, sub-par, demographic, garnering.

I hate how they basically always use really obvious synonyms of what is essentially either: dropped, grossed, climed, expanded.

I hate jargon. It's annoying and frilly and stupid and makes no-one look clever.

really any word used in the bizarre sentences of John Savage.

Variety, THR, and Tom O'Neill are the guiltiest.

They're not supposed to make you look clever, it's called vocabulary.

Yes vocabulary is great if you use it sparingly and effectively.
If you fire the word 'ribald' out every time you mention The Hangover? Well that's just irritating.

And honestly, who in life says "Jordin Sparks' new LP is expected to precipitate at least 40% in week two after an underwhelming start"

Harry Potter had a 'BOFFO' start. Which is irritating word speak for huge, large, impressive.

however thus henceforth, additionally moreover in conclusion.

total essay speak
annoying.

it sucks when you are backed into a corner and additionally or however are your only options.

Michael - you're not in the corporate world, are you?

Either way, this book might be for you: http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Bullsh ... 1402207808

Gotta admit, I'd never seen the word "boffo" in an article nor knew what it even meant lol. After looking it up, I agree it should never be used.

LOL Krem its funny because one of my pet hates is when people giving presentations or businesses discussing matters use total bullshit jargon to cover their asses.

I believe you can be literate without fleshing out the lies and smoothing over the truth with verbose bullshit.

Indeed, i have periods where my bullshit tolerance drops to record lows, and this is one of those seasons.

my favourite essay speak saying is "as a result of..."

4 words wow.

Don't forget the Casey Kasem classic, "notches."

"The song dropped 10 notches this week."

Music has an interesting vocab to it too.

'HOWEVER'
i wonder how many times HOWEVER has been raped by university students.

THROUGH DEEPER INVESTIGATION / IN CLOSER ANALYSIS
the NANCY DREW and CSI of the essay world which says "here, i am elaborating on that point now"

FURTHERMORE,
FURTHERMORE because IN ADDITION and HOWEVER didnt feel right.

Clearly

Furthermore, additionally, moreover, in addition, I'm guilty of butchering them.

But i DO NOT use "in conclusion" ever in an essay.

I haven't used "in conclusion" since like 10th grade. Most of my teachers say upfront that they don't want to see it.

i've never used it period. i've seen it sometimes in scholary articles and i'm thinking "really?"

realistically, you shouldn't have to use additionally, furthermore etc. either.

Maybe it is because I am used to legal writing, but I like when people use words like "however" or "in contrast to" as well as "to conclude" or "to hold" because it gives the reader a road map and shows that the writer took some time to think about the issue. It also allows the writer to distinguish seemingly similar things and allows for skimming.



As for the topic at hand, a word I loathe is the phrase "X movie is off to a crackling good start." I often read that same word in reviews; "X movie moves at a crackling pace."

if you say "to conclude" it's always at the end of an essay, report or whatever. It's kind of a no brainer that you are concluding.

"In conclusion" concluded around 5th grade.

You'd love pitchfork.

In conclusion, my essay explored the subject at hand in great depth, exposing new nuances in the topic perhaps not at first considered. Furthermore, within these constricts and through deeper investigation of an associated subpoint, we have understood that the matrix of this system is indefinitely larger than first assumed. However, within the constraints of the original outline, we have seen some surprising shifts in the Zeitgeist that one could not have determined associated with external influencers.

That is basically essay hell. Essays are funny because sometimes you get lecturers who need you to spew jargon like its going out of fashion for you to pass, then you get other ones who are like "why are you trying to over complicate this?" and wont have any jargon at all. I obviously like those people better.

I am quite verbose and use a wide vocabulary on the whole though, so sometimes i fall into the jargon trap without being aware im doing it

Heh, I'm so guilty of using more words than necessary. Normally it is to help meet a page requirement though.

Like, if you use "As a result of" instead of "Because" and other such things, you can add a good 20-30 words to a paper.

I remember in primary i used to write 6,000 word stories when we would be assigned 500 word assignments. I had a really vivid imagination and that is symbolic of my inability to not write a lot. I never know when to stop writing.

The issue people tend raise with Pitchfork is not so much their use of 'annoying words,' but with the cavalcade of often obscure references they litter their reviews with. That said...most of the time they're on point (at least in regard to the 1% of name-drops I can comprehend).

they're just so pomo.