Thursday, February 28, 2008

pejorative, pedantic, patronizing

Word: pejorative

The context in which I most recently heard/saw it used
: My professor said he didn't intend to be pejorative about the zoning case's verdict.

Meaning in the aforementioned context: disparaging, belittling.

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Word: pedantic

The context in which I most recently heard/saw it used
: In one of NY Magazine's best photo captions ever: "No, no, it's spelled P-E-D-A-N-T-I-C." This was in a review of the first episode of season five of The Wire; the writers agreed that real life editors are just as persnickety as the fictional editor who insisted that you can evacuate a building but not people.

Meaning in the aforementioned context: characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules.

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Word: patronizing

Meaning: with an air of condescension.

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Further thoughts on these words: I use the word patronizing often; I think pejorative may sometimes be a better word. Pejorative is straightforwardly negative; patronizing has a more wiser-than-thou, know-it-all connotation. I didn't really understand the meaning of pedantic before reading the NY Magazine post, so it's a fresh addition to the vocabulary.

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