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Hablar por aproximación

 

An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not readily apparent based on the individual words in the expression. This forum is dedicated to discussing idioms and other sayings.


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Old October 05, 2016, 10:38 AM
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Hablar por aproximación

A moment ago, a poster in another forum wrote this

Quote:
...people will repeat grossly incorrect claims long after they have decimated
He should have used "been decimated" as decimate is a transitive verb. Anyway that's an odd way to say it. "have been debunked" or "have been proven false" would have been better, but this user wants to think he's a master of the language and a very cultivated person when in fact he often "habla por aproximación" (he uses similar sounding words, malapropisms, and posh words that loosely match the context).

How could I say that in English?
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Old October 05, 2016, 09:37 PM
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I'm not certain, but I think you're describing a person that uses highfalutin words. These people come off sounding pompous, bombastic or haughty. Add snobbish and arrogant.

They can be called a pompous ass or a snob. Add highbrow, high-hat and snooty.
Their speech can be described as overblown, high-sounding, inflated, stilted or pretentious.

These terms don't usually apply to a person who uses malapropisms, though. I would just call that plain recklessness on their part or utter foolishness. Then they're pretenders or wannabees. If they use the wrong words to get a reaction, they're smug and laughable, a la vez.

See what others have to say.

Those who speak of a 'trio of myopic rodents' instead of 'three blind mice' kill me. You know what they're saying, you think it's funny, but it irks you to no end that they went there. Just the facts, ma'am.
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Old October 06, 2016, 05:10 PM
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Thank you, Rusty! Those are really the right expressions if one wants to highlight the bombastic aspect of such language.

I was thinking along the lines of people who say "moral turpentine" instead of "moral turpitude". I know that's kind of a malapropism, and these are often accidental and sort of candid. But there are people who talk constantly that way maybe out of clumsiness. "Hablar por aproximación" goes more on that way.

Maybe there's no exact match. I hate when the right thing to say exists in English but not in Spanish. It's frustrating, but kind of cool at the same time as it shows how empowering learning another language is.
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Old October 06, 2016, 06:52 PM
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You are right Alec. This is a hilarious mistake. The correct verb is desseminate.

... long after they have been disseminated. It is high tone. There is nothing wrong with high tone, but it sounds foolish when the wrong three- syllable- plus verb is used. Many English speakers are perplexed by words with more than two syllables. That doesn't speak much for us unfortunately, but its true many distrust latinate English. I think a person who uses high tone words without mastering them runs the risk of being seen as "putting on airs".
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Last edited by poli; October 07, 2016 at 05:09 AM.
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