Unusual words you only see in books.

Oh! I have Man in the High Castle. I haven't read it, but it's on the list

 

Yeah, the meaning is kind of strange. I would use ersatz to mean something you know is an inferior substitute for the real thing, not something you're trying to pass off as the real thing. (In other words, it's not fake or false. It's a substitute.) Chicory is ersatz coffee. I mean everybody knows chicory isn't coffee, but people will drink it, as a last resort, when they can't get real coffee. I would say it's more like 'faux,' but that's not a word people actually say in this country, unless they are dress designers! Across the channel ...well, yes.

 

The word "ersatz" might well appear in that novel

 

Nabokov is the king of words I've never heard anyone use. Inodorous, inguen, hypnogogic, nates, porcine.
and does anyone say recline or proximity?

 

Sure. I use both of those

 

My conversation must be pretty dry - lol - I would probably say sitting back. As in I'm sitting back or instead of proximity - I might discuss closeness as in how close am I to the curb. My conversation is horribly casual. I'll occasionally use an interesting word but for the most part it's pretty basic. ... It's probably the people I hang out with. Wait that doesn't sound right. I actually don't know if I'd elevate my vocabulary in conversation - I'm more of a listener.

 

I use porcine, recline and proximity but I don't even know what nates means.

 

Sally stole Nate's cookie. He was pissed.

 

I don't remember that line in Lolita.

 

Maybe it was Pale Fire?

 

He uses the word in the Original of Laura - nates means buttocks. Trust Nabokov to find an unusual word for buttocks.

 

Exodus by Leon Uris also, used to describe the ersatz coffee of WWII, and I have used it in conversation to describe something makeshift, but then I speak foppishly for an Appalachian hillbilly

 

I'd only ever use Ersatz when speaking German, and of I heard it used in English, I'd be flummoxed beyond belief.

 

Mimsy is the first one that comes to mind for me. I've never heard it used in an actual conversation, but I've read it in books.

 

Ooh, I have one! Miasma. Never heard it in conversation.

 

I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone say flummoxed outside of a movie or TV show.

 

I don't think I've ever said it out loud, either.

 

Here's a word I saw on a tweet but I don't think I've ever heard in a conversation

- kerfuffle

 

I came across 'pulchritudinous' once and was surprised to learn that is means someone breathtakingly beautiful. Imagine describing someone with this word in person: I think you're just pulchritudinous! I actually might use this the next time I'm in a situation where I'm talking to someone that fits the word, just to see their reaction as well as embarrass myself. If they know the word that would also be interesting, though I couldn't imagine any breathtakingly beautiful person knowing such a word, as well most pulchritudinous people are philistines that revel in the pleasure and ease their physical appearance brings them in their daily lives.

ayy