contradictory person

[Maybo]

We can use contradictory to describe opinions. Can I use it to describe people?

For example: My mother is a contradictory person. She always ask me not to buy clothes because it wastes money. But when she buys clothes for herself, she thinks that's fine.

 

[GoesStation]

It doesn't work for me. You could consider obstreporous. Be aware, though, that that's a "fifty-cent" word (American English) which many people won't understand.

 

[Tarheel]

I might say she's peculiar. (I have used the phrase $25 word.)

 

[Maybo]

I might say she's peculiar. (I have used the phrase $25 word.)

What is $25 word?

 

[Tdol]

Inconsistent

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

What is $25 word?

Expensive. Big. Extravagant.

Calling her contradictory isn't natural and doesn't really make sense.

You could say she's a woman of contradictions or she's full of contadictions. In that context, the noun form is much more natural.

 

[GoesStation]

What is a "$25 word"?

Always mark words or phrases you're writing about with quotation marks or italics.

Please get this right in the future. I'm tired of repeatedly reminding you.

 

[Tarheel]

What is a "$25 word"?

It's like one of GS's 50 cent words only more expensive

 

[Maybo]

It's like one of GS's 50 cent words only more expensive

I don't get it...

 

[probus]

I might say she's peculiar. (I have used the phrase $25 word.)

Apparently now it's $50. That's the ravages of inflation ;-)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I don't get it...

I explained this to you in post #6.

A fifty-cent word is cheap. Small. Ordinary.

A $25 word is expensive. Fancy.

 

[Maybo]

It's like one of GS's 50 cent words only more expensive

I explained this to you in post #6.

A fifty-cent word is cheap. Small. Ordinary.

A $25 word is expensive. Fancy.

So does Tarheel mean GS's ordinary words become fancy?

 

[GoesStation]

So does Tarheel mean GS's ordinary words become fancy?

That's his implication, but I disagree with his definition. Traditionally, a fifty-cent word is a fancy, multisyllabic word that many people don't know. When the expression originated, 50¢ was a significant amount of money.

 

[Rover_KE]

I'd call her 'contrary' (rhyming with 'Mary' - as in 'Mary, Mary quite contrary').

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

So does Tarheel mean GS's ordinary words become fancy?

He means that it's fancier than GS's five-cent words.

 

[GoesStation]

He means that it's fancier than GS's five-cent words.

I haven't mentioned five-cent words. The expression for polysyllabic ones is fifty-cent words. "Twenty-five dollar" or "fifty-dollar words" would be understood the same way, but I've never seen those terms used.

 

[jutfrank]

Telegram fees aside, I think the word Maybo is looking for is a hypocrite, which can mean a person who tells you it's wrong to do something, then goes and does it herself.

 

[tedmc]

What about:
She doesn't practise what she preaches.
She doesn't walk the talk.

 

[Tdol]

And could we just mention sesquipedalian, which is a long word to describe using long words.

 

[Maybo]

I don't understand "Telegram fees aside".