Definition of cultured words

In common parlance, the most important thing is that the communication be effective, that is, that the speakers understand each other. In some contexts, people use unusual words. They are the cultured words. They are those terms that stand out for their limited use. They are typical of learned people and academic and highly specialized fields.

In daily and everyday communication it is not necessary to use cultured words (also called cultisms). If someone does it in an unjustified way, it is possible that he is considered a pedantic person, that is, that he has a attitude haughty, not very close and elitist.

There is no rule of thumb about when to use cultured words and when not to. Its correct use depends on the situation of the speakers. In one act academic ( the presentation of a thesis doctoral, for example) it is necessary to use cultisms, since specific knowledge leads implicit a specialized terminology, which is rare in everyday life. In the sphere professional

Cultured words are also used, since it is necessary to convey rigor and precision when explaining information. This is what often happens in medicine, where specialists in each branch have to use a very technical vocabulary and patients are not familiar with it. For this reasonWhen we go to the doctor's office, we ask him to explain our health problem in a simple way.

The same idea can be expressed in many ways. In a simple way, with plain words that are understood by the vast majority or, on the contrary, with cultured words. In the latter case, the speaker may have a problem if his interlocutor he does not know the meaning of cultisms. To avoid these uncomfortable situations, it is convenient to limit cultured words to very specific situations.

Another of the peculiarities of cultism is that sometimes there is confusion about whether they really are or not. Someone can say that a word is cultured (for example the adjective withdrawn) when in reality it seems strange to him because it has a little vocabulary.

There are terms that can be considered cultured: tremebundo (terrifying), bland (with little grace), uberrimo (that abounds a lot) or epithet (adjective). Another obvious case of cultisms is the use of latinisms: alter ego, cogito, culmen or desideratum. These are words that should not be used frequently, unless the context justifies it (for example, a meeting of Latin teachers).

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