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I agree with you 100%. Not only do big words show you can't describe things well, it makes it easier to understand what they're trying to describe. At least for me it is. All you need to do is really describe what is happening. Big words won't help you there. It proves that the thesaurus doesn't need to be your friend, and the only thing that will save you is how well you can paint a picture of the situation.

It depends on the situation, the context the author uses it in, and if they truly understand the meaning of the word. They're fun, really, but aren't always necessary.

'Juxtapose' was a word that was taught to me by one of the toughest English teachers in my school, and I never really used it because I never thought I needed it. But I agree with your using-big-words-in-conext statement.

Actually some of the best Authors insist on not using big words.


Writing isn't about tossing long words together. Certainly it looks 'pretty' but like a hunk of fat in the middle of a steak it's more useless than substantial. As my Grade 12 English teacher used to say; 'if you look at a sentence and KNOW one word in there could be cut out without hurting the structure of it then by all means REMOVE it!'

Some Authors can use long words well, Tolkien for example was VERY guilty of purple prose. But the difference between them and Meyer is that they made it WORK, and it was usually done because they had something important that the readers needed to think about.

The problem with Twilight is that when you read it you almost get the feeling that the long words are being forced, which distracts from the actual story where as simple words may have not.


But then again....usually people smack me upside the head for saying big words are annoying. So what the hell do I know? -_-