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Delusions of Eloquence: Difference between revisions
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'''Burt Shlubb:''' I cannot prescribe to such a narrow interpretation of the perimeters which you now invoke, Mr. Klump.|''[[Sin City]]: Fat Man and Little Boy''}}
In which a person [[Feigning Intelligence|tries too hard to sound "educated"]] by using [[Big Words]] or carefully chosen phrases but gets it wrong, filling their dialogue with [[Malaproper|malapropisms]], mispronunciations and mangled grammar. The result is that they sound ''less'' educated and at the same time pompous and pretentious. This idiosyncrasy is often given to a [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All]], [[Those Two Bad Guys]], or a stuffed shirt that demands respect, but is mocked behind his back. It can also be used to add charm or humor to a character who would otherwise seem [[Flat Character|a little flat]].
This trope works best in print; characters with Delusions of Eloquence are funniest when you can read, in black and white, what they are doing to our mother tongue. In audiovisual media, unless the captions are turned on, they just come across as two [[Mooks]] who talk too much. ("Low-rent thugs with [[Trope Namer|delusions of eloquence]]," as Hartigan puts it).
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* [[Family Guy|Peter Griffin]] finds the use of this trope "both shallow and pedantic".
** This holds for any word used that Peter doesn't understand, such as "esoteric".
{{quote|'''Peter''': * after being told his theme choice was esoteric* Lois, ''[[
'''Brian''': Swing and a miss. }}
** Or...
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* One of the many language fumbles made by the writers of [[419 Scam|Nigerian scam e-mails]], particularly when they try to sound official. Actual example:
{{quote|The choice of contacting you aroused from the geographical nature of where you live particularly due to the sensitivity of the transaction and the confidentiality herein. Now our company has been waiting for any of the relatives to come-up for the claim of the inheritance fund but unfortunately all efforts has being void. I personally have been unsuccessful in locating neither the relatives nor any next of kin to Mr. Saba. On this regards, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin / will beneficiary to the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at Eighty Five Million Dollars($85M) can be paid to you.}}
* Writers—most often [[Fanfic]] writers, but by no means limited to them—who rely overly much on spellcheckers (and their often wildly-incorrect suggestions for "correct" spellings) can ''accidentally'' inflict this on their work, sometimes to the point where it becomes a [[Word Salad]]. For instance, the [[Crossover]] fic ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4183715/1/Awaken-Sleeper Awaken Sleeper]'' by "Water Mage" is littered with constructions like
{{quote|We both can do it, so it's obliviously genetic.}}
:and
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Language Tropes]]
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