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I am looking for a word or short phrase that best describes a scenario in which an author seems to have copiously placed uncommon or higher educated vocabulary in a lower reading level book. Meaning that the book seems to be for a fourth grade reading level and then every few paragraphs an English Doctorate level word appears, possibly to impress readers.

Edwin Ashworth
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    There's lexiphanic, which is using pretentious wording or language, but it doesn't have the sense of intermittence you wanted. – Marthaª Feb 09 '11 at 19:28
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    @Martha: Oh, juicy word. Thank you for improving my life. I especially love that its usage is almost inescapably autological. :) – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 19:37
  • It's not a direct answer - but anachronistic could be a nice fit. Depends if the word(s) are still in common usage and/or you're referring to the usage pejoratively. Another pejorative choice would be pedantically. Lexiphanic is fantastic - I can't wait to use it :) – aronchick Feb 09 '11 at 19:52
  • @Martha: In the comments on my answer, it turns out that lexiphanic is exactly what OP was looking for. You should write your comment as an answer so it can get upvoted and accepted. :) – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 19:52
  • @chaos: posted an answer as requested. – Marthaª Feb 09 '11 at 20:05
  • Related: Word meaning “use of uncommon words” – RegDwigнt Feb 10 '11 at 09:27
  • @RegDwight: I think the difference is that this question asked for a word with negative connotations, while the other question wants a word with neutral connotations. (And has not yet received a satisfactory answer.) – Marthaª Feb 10 '11 at 19:11

10 Answers10

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[As requested, posting this as an answer instead of a comment]

There's lexiphanic, which is using pretentious wording or language, but it doesn't have the sense of intermittence you wanted.

(I found the word by plugging "using long words" into a reverse dictionary. The first two results, sesquipedalian and sesquipedality, are also good, but they don't necessarily have a negative connotation like lexiphanic.)

Marthaª
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I nominate erudition spikes.

Visualize a chart with the book's erudition level on the Y axis, time or position on the X axis. These sudden intrusions of sesquipedalian loquacity will appear as spikes on the graph.

chaos
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  • Would it still fit if the words weren't long, just uncommon enough for an avid reader to have to look up? –  Feb 09 '11 at 19:32
  • @Rochelle: Sure. Erudition is about education level, not word length. I used "sesquipedalian" just to be cute. :) – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 19:36
  • I know that this particular author has a degree in English. However, the saga she has written seems to be for a less learned group of readers. I am just trying to pinpoint a more compact description for her use of more learned level vocabulary that seems out of place in this set of books. –  Feb 09 '11 at 19:40
  • Basically, I am a college student that has the brain wracking task of writing a college level paper about the middle school level, Twilight series. –  Feb 09 '11 at 19:44
  • @Rochelle: Makes sense. It's complicated by the fact that most of the words we have for this sort of thing implicitly accuse the writer of pretentiousness, where it sounds as if the more likely motivation is pedagogical (as with Tolkien). I tried to formulate a term that would be neutral as to motivation. – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 19:44
  • @Rochelle: Oh, if we're talking about Stephenie Meyer then I would definitely support the use of lexiphanic or fustian. – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 19:45
  • I looked up lexiphanic. That's it! Now I can complete my paper and stop wracking my poor little brain. Thank you for taking the time to help me out. –  Feb 09 '11 at 19:50
  • @Rochelle: You're welcome, but thank Martha; she's the one who just introduced me to that word, in the comments on your question. :) I wish she'd written an answer rather than a comment, so she could get proper credit. – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 19:51
  • Though, fustian describes the style of teaching that this particular professor adheres to. –  Feb 09 '11 at 19:53
  • Thank you Martha. I appreciate your brain and your time. –  Feb 09 '11 at 19:54
  • @Rochelle: No reason you can't use both. :) I mean, what's more fun than calling the Twilight Saga a turgid mass of lexiphanic fustian? – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 19:55
  • I wonder if my professor would get the irony if my low grade paper had such high level verbage?:) –  Feb 09 '11 at 20:03
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    @Rochelle: That's what I love about the word lexiphanic; it can hardly be used without being pretentious, and therefore making one's work itself lexiphanic. Mmm, like me some autological words. :) – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 20:10
  • "Despite her best efforts, the book oozes erudition" :) – Benjol Feb 10 '11 at 07:22
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More specifically,

the word is "Grandiloquent", if the writer has a tendency to use grand words, instead of common ones;

or

"Magniloquent", if the writer has a tendency to use long/large words, instead of short/small ones

Dhruv Raj Sharma
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Circumlocutious/circumlocutory are the words you are looking for.

M-w.com defines circumlocution (of which the above words are adjectival forms,) as :

1 : the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea 2 : evasion in speech

moonstar
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I would tend to use uncromulent.

chmullig
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ostentation - Ambitious display; pretentious parade; vain show; display intended to excite admiration or applause; A show or spectacle

sententious - excessive moralizing

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That was one of J.R.R. Tolkien's strategies in writing for children. He thought that by inserting bits of higher-level phrases and vocabulary, children would learn more from reading.

So, to invent a word, I suggest using 'Tolkienesque'.

smithco
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  • It's taken, unfortunately. Means epic high fantasy with elves and dwarves (as opposed to dwarfs) and whatnot, more or less. – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 19:13
  • I am new to this site but if you can tell me how to give credit to Martha I would be more than happy to after I get out of class. –  Feb 09 '11 at 20:05
  • Just click on the UP arrow over the number to the left of her post. That said, "Intermittent anomalous vocabulation" is often a poor teaching technique. Woggle-Bug in the Oz books used it extensively. He was not well liked. – Wayfaring Stranger Jan 27 '12 at 16:32
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You might also consider euphuistic.

Robusto
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  • Elaborate alliteration, antitheses, and similes? Not sure I get the correlation. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Euphuistic – vapcguy Apr 27 '15 at 22:29
  • @vapcguy: When I answered this question 4 years ago there was a different title and different content. It was about high-sounding words, not simply something being "out of place." – Robusto Apr 28 '15 at 02:12
  • There, I rolled it back. Read the text of the question and you'll see that bears it out. – Robusto Apr 28 '15 at 02:14
  • Uncommon or not - that wasn't my issue with euphuistic. I found it's meaning doesn't have anything to do with being out-of-place. – vapcguy Apr 28 '15 at 02:17
  • Read the text of the question, not the title. OP just expressed himself poorly.. – Robusto Apr 28 '15 at 09:23
  • I would suggest you should do the same. Part of the question reads: an author seems to have copiously placed uncommon or higher educated vocabulary in a lower reading level book -- anything where a word of one type ("higher educated vocabulary") is intermingled with the another type ("lower...level") means it is out-of-place, just like the title of the question says. Nothing about alliteration, similies, and grammatical plays of words on each other. – vapcguy Apr 28 '15 at 20:22
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I'd use eccentric:

Departing from a recognized, conventional, or established norm or pattern.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/eccentric

vapcguy
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Saltation, from the Latin saltus (“to leap”) has senses including "any abrupt transition", "a light springing movement upwards or forwards", "the leaping movement of sand or soil particles [transported] over an uneven surface", "a mutation that drastically changes the phenotype of an organism or species". It might be used figuratively to indicate uneven or untoward wording: "Her vocabulary's saltation was alarming."

James Waldby - jwpat7
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