Weekly Blog- Jake Moore

If it is agreed that this lexical disparity reflects a social inequity in the position of women, one may ask how to remedy it.  Obviously, no one could seriously recommend legislating against the use of the terms "mauve" and "lavender" by women, or forcing men to learn to use them.  All we can do is give women the opportunity to participate in the real decisions of life.

-Robin Tolmach Lakoff Edited by Mary Bucholtz

The paragraph I took from Mary Bucholtz revised version of the book "Language and Woman's Place" is a prime example of an author using pretentious diction.  Lexical, disparity, social inequity, and remedy are all examples of large words that I believe are unnecessary.  If it was not the help of Microsoft's synonym tool it would have been difficult for me to translate the first sentence.  It is very well structured and stated, but for an average citizen, I believe, it was too well-written and confusing to read.  If I were to write it in "5 cent" words this is how it would read: "  If it is agreed that this inequality use of words is for women, then one may ask how to change it."  

The rest of the paragraph Buchlotz tones down the use of pretentious diction, but still uses words that shows she has a large vocabulary.  The words alone does not make me think she has a large vocabulary, but how she structures her sentence gives me this assumption.  If she were to read this blog entry over her paper she might think that my assumption is based on her gender.  Her paper is over how women and men are portrayed by the world.  Women are forced to talk like a lady and if they don't then they are criticized as unfeminine, but if they do then she is ridiculed as unable to think clearly or make a serious decision.  According to her paper I believe if if a man were to write this paper he would be considered a nerd or very intellectual.  However, because a woman wrote this she is trying to show-off how intelligent she is and show her dominance in the English world.