Is there a word/term for someone who teaches themself?

Well, apparently I have a permanently up nose from which I look down at things, so you may be right.

But, frankly, I think cameleopard as simple and plain as the proboscis upon your countenance, so it is possible you are stuck down.

My kid is apparently known for using Very Big Words at school -- this seems to be mostly admired, while some people find it amusing (there she goes again!) and one of her best friends is in an ongoing competition with her for using the Very Biggest Words (Preferably Ones That Nobody Else Understands But Which Can Be Found In The Dictionary).

I hate hate hate thinking of the perfect word and then having to dumb it down out of concern for seeming too highfalutin'. So I don't, usually.

You needn't be so modest soz.

For decades now, I've been privy to lectures either in design and business classes, or lectures in my reading, about the benefits of communication in small words. I can see the point in some circumstances. I'm ornery though, and like word play, including word sounds.

yeah.

let the bastards eat profiteroles!

Only Hollywood actors can profit from roles as bastards in grade B movies.

Those are good with Perugina chocolate..

U can get GOOD Ones
(even if your parents r married) @ Edgar 's Cafe on 84th St. n Broadway.
Thay r very tender n soft (not those perverted hard, tuff ones, like bricks).

The Cafe is named after Edgar Allen Poe, in his neighborhood.





David

SO STIPULATED!





David

I 'll drink to that !

Now that u mention it, I remember that from Shogun,
but its such a long time since I read that, that I did not remember.

I don' t ofen think in Japanese.





David

Become a teacher, you'll find out?

I've been teaching full time now of 1.5 years (not long); I use lots of fun words (and terms) in class. How could I not? Here's some:

covalent structure
negative charge carriers
pentavalent
crystal-lattice structure
Negative temperature coefficient of resistance
Sexagesimal
Quadrature
Cartesian
Pythagorean
Axiomatic
Theta
Phi
Luminous efficacy
Le Système International d'Unités
Lamp Lumen Depreciation
luminaire
associative
commutative
distributive
eutectic
coulomb
wave-mechanical model
Color Rendering Index
Lux is 1 fc = 10.76 Lx
Inverse Square Law
Cosine Law of Incidence

Yotta 1x10^24 Y
Zetta 1x10^21 Z
Exa 1x10^18 E
Peta 1x10^15 P
Tera 1x10^12 T
Giga 1x10^9 G
Mega 1x10^6 M
Kilo 1x10^3 K
Milli 1x10^-3 m
Micro 1x10^-6 µ
Nano 1x10^-9 n
Pico 1x10^-12 p
Femto 1x10^-15 f
Atto 1x10^-18 a
Zepto 1x10^-21 z
Yocto 1x10^-24 y
Hecto 1x10^2 h
Deca 1x10^1 da
Deci 1x10^-1 d
Centi 1x10^-2 c

It even tends to generate, in return, brevity of discourse..

And, surely brevity of discourse is to be preferred over lugubriousness.

Whatever my corroboration to your utterance might be, the scarcity of my words should never be mistaken for lugubriousness, which is the very opposite of my state of mind..

You know, there used to be a Japanese writer of horror stories whose adopted name in Japanese was supposed to sound exactly like Edgar Allen Poe. I could never make it work out that way, but it's still nice that not just restaurants are named after him.

Probably should have said nom de plume, or something instead of <<adopted>>, huh?

You'll have to sit in the corner if you use language like that to ME young man!

Yeah. I read his work in High School; it did not take long.
Anyway, thay make good profiteroles in his Cafe on 85th St.

(I hope thay don 't put any poppy products in there.)

Thats silly chum. I could make a similar lengthy list of jargon terms You cant avoid the jargon of your craft. Youve done nothing more than identify the very phrases that are important to your subject (I assume that the chem phrases are important to your craft because they dont define themselves without help)

Adding the jargon of your craft to a string of words that are chosen for no other reason than their difficulty, is kind of irresponsible. Are you bored? so that you like to see kids be properly confused?

I teach graduate level science loaded with all kinds of jargon and foreign stem words many with multiple syllables. Ill stop and , if were going over a concept , we have a chance to review some of the jargon and Ill expect the student to learn the mass of them in their studies.(MIning geology is replete with all kinds of german and Nordic and French words as roots , the student is expected to know them to understand their subject)



Im not an English teacher and Ive gotta be careful of the many foreign students whose experience with English is still developing.

We can all easily be self congratulatory in our daily discourse. Its often more challenging to make a subject simple by words and analogies that we as teachers use. My choice to use appropriate , not overly complex words unleass Im using humor or were I can use a more complex word to , say, rhyme with a technical word to assist in its Adsorption by the minds of my students.

Since most of my subjects were taught from the technical literature, Ive often taken abstracts apart because they often come off as Victorian gibberish, due mostly to obscure phrases as words in the paper.

My rule , and I repeat, never load my lectures with 10 dollar words because they can be confusing iwithin the body of the subject especially to foreign and regional students.
This is , of course only my feeling. You are certainly free to raise the level of word comprehension in your own classes, youll certainly be admired by your students.

Will u perhaps consider the value
of saying to your students: "here ARE some" or "here r some"
instead of "here IS some" or "here's some:" ?