Years ago I heard of a word that describes ones use of language (incorrectly, unfortunately) in the attempt to sound better educated or “classier.”

An example might be something like, “The letter was addressed to both my husband and I,” instead of “and me.”  The speaker, knowing that “and me” is often used incorrectly, decides to use “and I.”  So it’s really a conscious attempt to speak better English.

“Toffee-nosed” sounds right for snobs or “toffs” who bung on a cultured accent.  Apparently the term is derived from the rather disgusting brown drops that tended to form in the nostrils of habitual cocaine users during the Roaring Twenties.

douglang - 22 December 2008 12:31 AM

“Toffee-nosed” sounds right for snobs or “toffs” who bung on a cultured accent.  Apparently the term is derived from the rather disgusting brown drops that tended to form in the nostrils of habitual cocaine users during the Roaring Twenties.

Yikes!  How interesting!

But what I’m really looking for is the non-slang word.  People who do what I’m referring to are honestly and innocently trying to effect better speech—it’s not really a “snob” thing.  It’s just that through their ignorance they are choosing an incorrect word, phrase, grammatical construction, etc.  It’s more like an avoidance thing—hoping to avoid seeming uneducated.

Apparently it’s called hypercorrection.

If macaroni bothers you, you might try: ultracorrection, extracorrection, overcorrection, supercorrection.

Try “highbrow” vs. “lowbrow”.  See snob in any dictionary - lots of words.  Also see ‘snob’ in Wiktionary.

Some of the novels of 1860’s England by Anne Perry speak of toffs as Doug mentioned,  excellent novels, by the way,
in the vein of Sherlock Holmes.

Not excessively verbose like pedantic but trying too hard to be correct. Yes I should know this because I do it all the time. But unfortunately I can’t seem to cajole the word with which one might express said sentiment from any of my cortices, Darn it! There I go again.

an anecdote…

I was reading a missive from a civil servant that was littered with bon mots, a priori and several over non-English insertions. I mused aloud to a colleague in the room, “I suppose sometimes I use a foreign word when there is a good Endlish one”.
His reply was “Mea culpa”.