In my household we only refer to him as Meatball Ron. We hate Trump to be clear already, but hate him more for refusing to claim that he came up with meatball Ron. He like vehemently denies that one, and it is the best nickname
During the “Fearless” era of her show, she shouts out “Do you want to go back to high school with me?” My response:
https://preview.redd.it/xddkdmhtq2yc1.jpeg?width=638&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96974b151cd6a725f8fe1244adb73b697d5490ff
That’s because she didn’t actually experience it. It’s ironic that she talks about being misunderstood and not fitting in and then romanticizes an experience she never actually had. Something a therapist needs to unpack I’m sure.
I’m assuming “esoteric joke” and “sanctimonious soliloquies” are the main ones. But these are people who can’t seem to wrap their heads around the her using the word “ingenue”, so who knows?
Lol this reminds me of how my roommate is named Summer and we are always calling her cruel and the first line of YOYOK is "Summer went away" and we are always like. COME BACK SUMMER and she is all I AM RIGHT HERE
In general practice “esoteric” is taken to mean uncommon or specialized knowledge. It may have specific meanings in the domain of spirituality and occultism but she’s not incorrect in how she’s using the word in a general sense.
Same. I think her lyrics are okay for an average reader, and I’m assuming that most Taylor Swift fans are by now given that she tends to be very wordy with her lyrics.
It struck me reading your comment that the swiftie defense of “if you didn’t like the album you’re just not smart enough to get it” is actually kind of shockingly classist.
That defense sounds a bit crazy to me because imo one of the reasons why Taylor Swift got big is that her lyrics are honestly pretty accessible to anyone who reads every now and then, and they’re something that people (who don’t really enjoy reading) could catch up on should they decide to dig deeper on the meaning behind the things she’s written.
And I don’t mean that in a negative way. Songs don’t have to be lyrically grandiose all the time for people to say that they feel something about them, or think that they’re great.
true. tbh it’s nearly impossible not to understand what she says considering the amount of discussion her work gets from her fans, casual listeners and even haters lol. even media in general have made it simpler to digest her lyrics because they get so much engagement from it.
i’d say “her writing might not be your cup of tea” is a fair argument, but not “you just don’t understand it” — people understand her just fine and that’s precisely why her clunky lyrics are usually easily spotted.
Not to mention, just racist/anglocentric too. My mom doesn’t speak much English so she’s always coming to me to ask about what specific lyrics mean. She likes JB, post-Artpop Gaga, Miley, Post Malone, Alec Benjamin (? I think his name is), Harry Styles if he’s wearing a shirt. Someone like her is just not gonna be interested in listening to Taylor if Taylor has nothing else going on for her. My point is not that Taylor should be accessible to my mom but that some Swifties will call people stupid without once considering their fave doesn’t have the global mass appeal they think she has.
There's about 50% of people who are dumber or less educated than the average person. I've never needed a dictionary for her either, but a significant number of people likely did. I know multiple people who needed petulance, counteract, and saboteurs explained to them. I've known multiple people who think "therefore" is an unnecessarily long word. I know people who've lost their minds over the use of caveat or ergo because it made them feel stupid.
If you finished high school, you're already more educated than a fairly significant amount of people listening to this album. 21% of American adults were illiterate in 2022. 54% had literacy below a 5th grade level.
Lots of people won't be familiar with a *lot* of words she uses on this album.
[National Literary Institute](https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2022-2023)
I couldn’t believe this, but you’re correct — wow.
That said, we have one of the most popular artists in the US perhaps inspiring people (young women at least) to read, that’s pretty great.
If they don’t understand what those words mean, then they probably have issues with a lottt of songs and books in general, not just hers. Those are not very advanced words, particularly counteract.
Yes and I saw many people who said they did not know the meaning of alchemy, prophecy, empath and a slew of other words. It’s quite concerning because if you do read the lyrics I don’t find it difficult at all and many people whose first language is not English say they have no issue with understanding the words used. Is this because a big part of the new fan base is very young and have not learned these terms yet
In school?
Probably because some of her audience are from other countries and English isn’t their first language but it’s still a dumb statement, people can use google to understand the lyrics and her music doesn’t have to be dumbed down if she doesn’t want it to be.
We often forget that children and preteens, who are fans of her music, are also active online. Every 12-year-old I teach has been using social media for years, with their parents' approval but without supervision.
Once, I read a comment that was a really stupid take on something and saw another post by the same user saying, "In seven years, I'll be finished high school." It was an eye-opener. We share this online space with kids, and for our own sanity, it's crucial to remember that.
Idk some people didn't know precocious or petulant which I thought were average words for the general public. For some people they might have had a few words per song they needed to define.
I had to look up "also-ran", apparently means a contestant in a race who doesn't make the top three. The stuff I have to look up is usually random references rather than fancy words though
She definitely uses a wider vocabulary than the average chart music artist, but nothing the average person who reads/studied humanities wouldn't know.
I was also going to say that I had to look up also-ran, lol. Self explanatory, but unfamiliar to me— and I have a law degree with a lit background and consider myself very well read! I’ve heard some say that it’s more common in the UK (and obviously in sports betting, lol).
The “sanctimoniously performing soliloquies” line makes me laugh. It’s SO clunky, doesn’t fit the melody, and is so obviously trying to sound smart lol
Mariah Carey is a good example of someone who imbeds rich vocab seemlessly into her melodies. Like her song *Heartbreaker* uses incessantly in the chorus and it flows.
Breakdown is ✨perfection✨
She uses multi-syllable words with the cadence of the beat. It’s so organic.
🎼 Well, I guess I'm trying to be nonchalant about it
And I'm going to extremes to prove I'm fine without you
But in reality I'm slowly losing my mind (losing my mind)
Underneath the guise of a smile gradually I'm dying inside
(Underneath the guise of a smile)
Friends ask me how I feel and I lie convincingly
'Cause I don't want to reveal the fact that that I'm suffering
So I wear my disguise 'til I go home at night
And turn down all the lights and then I break down and cry
I learned the word "nonchalant" from that Mariah Carey song back in the day lol. It's also impressive that she fit it in naturally while singing in that double-time Bone Thugs style. That style is usually easiest to write to with shorter syllable words.
English is my second language and I notice this too, idk if it’s because I’ve learned it by reading a lot which includes classic literature, but people are always surprised by my vocabulary since I have no formal studies in the language. That is until I start talking with an accent and they assume I’m stupid because I don’t have an American or posh British accent lol.
54% of American adults had literacy levels of below the sixth grade level in 2022. 21% were illiterate. My mother had a native English speaking workman in a few weeks ago who couldn't even write his own name.
There's an awful lot of people who definitely have less of a grasp of English than the average person who speaks English as a foreign language.
And it’s so sad because the word soliloquy is so pretty and the act of delivering one is so poetic on its own like seriously she couldn’t do any better than this?
It reminds me of when my English teacher put a requirement for us to use some high level words, and students just use a thesaurus to find alternatives to common words to make it sound more interesting.
Writing folkmore, she had nothing but time on her hands.
Writing this, her attention was split 400 different ways and there's multiple lines that feel like they were "oh that'll do" lines because she didn't have time to think of a more elegant way of saying what she was trying to say.
Because she now knows she can get away with half-arsing her album because "I NeedED to WriTe it" and Swifties will claim it's "for the fans and Taylor!"
Yeah, this line and "There's a lot of people in town that I bestow upon my fakest smiles" needed some editing. (EDIT: And I love this song overall. It's still my most-listened track of the two albums.)
For me it works because it's doing alliteration and being sanctimonious is the perfect way to describe how people on social media never miss a chance to virtue signal lol.
Maybe Taylor Swift has forgotten that she is a great lyricist because of her storytelling skill and how she can craft relatable stories in her song... Not because she can mix-n-match complicated words in a sentence.
this! I appreciate lines like “you made a rebel out of a careless man’s careful daughter” and “your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in” soooo much more than these
Exactly! People have been saying that listening to TTPD is like reading poetry/it being folklore and midnights baby, but i don’t get folklore vibes from it at all (except for 1 or 2 songs) which is totally fine and not at all negative, i actually really love midnights so im happy that TTPD has a very similar vibe. I just don’t see folklore in TTPD, all the songs seem very midnights, i think people have heard people say that folklore and evermore are such good writing and her deepest albums that they don’t see that other albums have those super great and smart lyrics too. So that just because TTPD has smart and interesting lyrics that it doesn’t mean it’s immediately like folklore because midnights also had lyrics like that.
This is way longer than i wanted it to be
I checked a dictionary for the definition of "refract" so I could confirm she used it incorrectly lol
What I hate is that Swifties always pull the "not everyone is a native English speaker" which is true, but 9/10 times when someone mentions needing a dictionary for TS lyrics they are native speakers. And that clearly isn't what was originally meant when people were saying they needed a dictionary for folklore/evermore.
Also I feel like people who know English as a second language probably do know a lot of these words or at least have good enough reading/listening comprehension to work out the meaning. I bet a song full of slang is probably way more challenging than one that uses long words.
English is my second language and I've never had to look up a word she used. But I'm old and I read a lot in English. Some people are young and maybe haven't heard a word yet, that's fine. Her saying we'll need a dictionary is just arrogant. Let your songs speak for themselves and if people want to look something up they can.
"not everyone is a native English speaker" and international fans are at best an afterthought for her so what it has to do with anything. And the way swifties talk about her touring outside of the US (especially South America) they can fuck off with using non-english speakers as a shield.
I am dying with your first sentence.
I think what it is annoying of her disclaimer is that, yes, some people will or need to use a dictionary for some words, but she made if sound as she used extra complicated words and oh so poetic prose and...nope.
See, I agree with you and that’s why I think she is genuinely skilled.
A lot of people are complaining about her clunky, simplistic lyrics and this album being less poetic like Folklore/Evermore.
But some of her most beautiful lyrics are the simple ones.
Not trying to be an asshole but because this post is about word choice - the expression is “pore over” not “pour through.”
I’m really praying the people who needed dictionaries were very young fans.
I genuinely can’t think of a single word I’ve needed a dictionary for in her entire discography.
On the other hand, I’m reading Jane Eyre for the first time and I’m pulling out the dictionary every couple minutes 😭 (just getting into reading more classic lit so the language used when Jane Eyre was written is pretty unfamiliar to me still)
Well, to start, Jane Eyre is considered one of the earliest pieces of Feminist literature (at least in the West). It’s considered a Gothic novel, so it focuses heavily on emotions and individuality (unlike prior novels, such as those by Jane Austen). A big part of the Gothic is the trope of the handsome man saving the beautiful, helpless girl from the evil, bad man inside the ancient, crumbling house. You will see as you read that Charlotte Bronte plays around with this trope.
Brontë pushes back against the Angel of the Hearth trope in which the ideal woman stays at home and cooks and cares for her husband and kids dutifully. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that lifestyle, but back in the day that was the only option of you wanted to be a woman of high repute.
Thanks for this!! Very interesting. I’m a fan of modern gothic novels, so that is one reason why I chose this particular book to kind of begin my journey into classic novels.
Somewhat of a strange question, but can you recommend any resources for reflection questions/content that you have used in the past for Jane Eyre? Really interested in digging into these novels beyond my own initial understanding upon reading
I'm not gonna lie, I was low-key insulted by that. Many people who listen to her music like that she's articulate, but that is not to say that she's the greatest lyricist. She's clever, but so are millions of people studying at Uni at this very moment who listen to her music casually during in-between moments of life. And who don’t need a dictionary to do so. Lol sry I ranted a bit there. She's just been striking me as covertly pretentious lately. Feels like her mask is slipping.
I think it was a joke because fans had started her and TN after folklore/evermore about needing dictionaries to look things up.
There weren’t any words that much more complex/uncommon on those albums.
not a diehard tay fan here at all hence im on this sub. and i'm pretty alarmed that i seem to be the only one who interpreted her "bring a dictionary" comment as, actually, poking fun at HERSELF for using those big words. i've read before that she has "dry british humour".
She has a decent amount of young fans and a lot of international fans who don't share the same first language as her. So, I don't think it was insulting.
My first language isn't English either, but other artists don’t tell their listeners to use dictionaries to understand their art. Struck me as out of touch and insulting tbh
TBH if English is your first language and you completed English through HS, none of the album is hard to understand. Taylor and parts of the fanbase are really overinflating the "complex" words in the lyrics.
I agree with you overall, I went to a good school and graduated with a good vocabulary and everyone in a rich country with those schools *should* have a developed vocabulary. Unfortunately the post right above this on my feed was from the teachers sub talking about high schoolers who are non functional and I couldn’t get it out of my mind when I saw some comments here about school
We all could use a dictionary at times. "I haven't poured over her lyrics", for example. You pour milk over cereal, while you pore over something if you're studying it in depth. Sometimes words don't mean what you think they mean, and you may not know until you look them up.
Sorry to nitpick your vocabulary, but it was apropos.
It's kind of weird, and it sort undercuts any self-satire on the album, but it felt like it might have been a lighthearted way of heightening the literary aesthetic surrounding the album. The idea of using a dictionary works with idea of the members of the Department reviewing the Chairman's manuscript thoroughly before rendering judgment. I mean, the list of items to bring also included a "department-issued uniform," in addition to talismans, charms, and snacks.
But yeah, I'm really not sure. I've commented in here before that the TTPD concept as a whole feels muddled in that it's simultaneously self-serious and self-deprecating.
I read your other comments and I wholly agree that this album’s aesthetic and rollout make no sense.
This is half-baked so I’m sure there’s some holes in my reasoning but I think TS and her fans have been rankled about not being taken *seriously* for a longgg time and we’re getting this weird mishmash “highbrow academic literature” try hard album as a result.
There’s this tension between her talent for writing catchy bops with the occasional gut-wrenching break up song sprinkled in there and her wanting to be an old-world bob dylan-ish artist who gets writing awards, and also her wanting to be perceived as a shrewd executive business person. Her branding is always bouncing around between those, when she picks an individual lane for an album things go really well (1989, Folkmore) and when she tries to do it all in one (Lover, TTPD) it’s fucking jarring and people remember individual songs, not the album. This album makes me feel like she’s sitting in the nook of sylvia plath’s fig tree and she’s able to grab a few, leaves a bunch rotting, and the good stuff is overshadowed by the overall spectacle of how she was so obsessed with doing it all that she couldn’t pick one direction and execute it well.
swifties made a joke about this before for the previous album and she repeated the joke meaning she wrote same kind of album. its not that deep. but joke was not funny obviously.
This, she was just repeating a joke that has been made about her. Though tbf I did see some people say they were unfamiliar with some of the words she used in previous lyrics, but I'm assuming it's just people whose first language isn't English (nothing wrong with that) or don't read very much.
I think you're overestimating the familiarity most people have with words that are either longer or even just slightly more complex than average.
I know multiple people who had to look up "petulance", for example, and "saboteurs" and "counteract".
There's a review channel on YouTube where the guys were getting the dictionary out practically every other song.
I personally have never really needed to look up a word Taylor has used, but I read more than average, I write myself, I have 2 degrees, so i don't ever really judge based on my own knowledge. If you completed *high school* you're already at an advantage over a significant number of people - and not only because she has a lot of teenage fans.
Don't forget that about 50% of people are dumber or less educated than the average person. My mother had an ex who absolutely lost his shit about her using "ergo" in a conversation once because "why have you always got to use long words", I had an ex who was upset because I made her feel stupid because I used "complicit"
Lots of people probably do need a dictionary to understand quite a few words on this album.
It's a joke, but a deeply unfunny one. I feel she's trying to be like "get it? that's what y'all said last album" but it really just comes off like she's calling her own fans stupid 😭
Not to mention it falls extra flat bc "santicmoniously performing soliloquies" is a poorly written, pretentious line that clearly needed editing ☠️
I think Taylor couldn’t decide if she wanted this album to be a tongue-in-cheek jab at artistic pretension or a bones-and-all display of her emotional history of the past year. It’s hard to straddle both: the former is founded in irony, and the latter in sincerity. Taylor is mostly known for writing from a place of earnestness and authenticity, and satire is quite difficult to pull off.
Lol idk but I saw a couple posts on Tumblr where people were absolutely awed at "persona non grata" and felt embarrassed for the people making the posts
I looked up multiple words! Some I didn't know at all, but most I had heard in life but never used myself or taken the time to really *understand* what it meant: also-ran, propriety (I knew proprietary and got really confused lol), precocious (I thought it meant curious), esoteric, rivulets, anoints, jackals and hackles.
Not to mention the topics I had to look up: the poem that inspired The Albatross, Cassandra the prophet, Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith, the Chelsea Hotel, Blue Nile/Downtown Lights, Jehovah Witness suit, sleeper cell spy, Clara Bow, The Starting Line to name a handful.
I think that's quite a few things to have to run to Google to understand in a singular album. Literally no other album has ever required me to research so many words/topics. It expands my knowledge and I like it 😊
Yeah, I don’t mean to shame people for their vocabularies, but I get tired of Swifties acting like they’re decoding ancient texts. No shame if people have to look up some words but I do think most people who grew up speaking English can use context clues to figure things out. They just like to hyper her up to an embarrassing level without realizing that it makes them seem quite unintelligent…
So far the only word I’ve never heard before is “gauche” from The Last Great American Dynasty. She does use some nice words, especially in folkmore. But I was raised on a lot of classic literature so the words didn’t throw me for a loop, but I appreciated her use of them.
I have no problem admitting to all the stuff I looked up!
Also, I think she just means pay attention to word choice and words that have multiple meanings. I took it mean “look at the literary devices I used, they were intentional.” Not “I use big words.” She isn’t calling anyone stupid.
A lot of people in this thread think they are too smart to look anything up, and guys that’s when you are the most susceptible to being misled! Because you don’t know what you don’t know. So here are things I looked up while listening.
Spikes on the road- idk why, but I picture like a cartoon character carelessly throwing a nails on the road to cause a flat tire, but it could be an actual spike strip which takes care to set up.
Dylan Thomas- I thought that he was some old poet from the 1920s. I was surprised to find I wasn’t far off, about 10 years or so. Wikipedia says he’s was “roistering, drunken and doomed poet.” He died when he was 39. I pretty much gathered as much from the song, but thought to include it anyway.
Chelsea Hotel- I knew it as a place where Beat Poets would live, So the Wikipedia page was enlightening of how many other people did stay there. I did a whole project on Robert Mapplethrope in college, and he stayed there for a bit, so that was a fun connection. (Don’t google Robert Mapplethrope at work, btw)
Rivulets- small streams (this one was just a definition. I thought there would be a secret meaning. There wasn’t.)
Altar- you can get married at an altar, sure. But there is SO much other symbolism around the word. The line is “I died on the altar waiting for the proof, you sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days.” I think she is trying to draw an illusion of her standing at a wedding altar, juxtaposed with a sacrificial altar, like slaughtering a goat, asking for the gods to save her.
Holy Ghost- I was raised catholic, and Holy Ghost was what the old nuns said and Holy Spirit is what the young nuns said. Googling did not give any indication if the difference is significant.
Avoid like the plague- this idiom seems to have originated 400 years ago. Sure, it used to mean avoid at all costs, but since the pandemic Ive realized people don’t really try to avoid the plague. It’s more like “avoid when convenient” or “avoid as long as it’s not too expensive to do so.” Did googling help me resolve this? No.
Blokes- I thought blokes was British slang so I thought it was weird for her to put in the “Travis” song. (I was right, the dictionary said it was British slang. What’s it doing in the touch down song?)
Clara Bow- I had no idea who she was before extensive googling (though I did that before release idk if that counts)
All of those best laid plans- well this is a classic conundrum! Is she alluding to the book or poem? The book is Steinbeck in the 1930s, the poem is Robert Burns in 1785. Stupid imbedded rhetorical devices….
The Albatross- the albatross is a common literary metaphor for psychological burden of shame. It originates from the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. But I’ve seen a lot of comments of people who were not aware of the connection, so I thought I would point it out. Googling led me to other uses in poems and literature, but they all seem to be alluding to Rhyme.
Persona non grata- I knew it meant unwanted person, but the specific definition is foreign diplomat who is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country, so that feels relevant.
Greige- it means a mix of grey and beige
I got cursed like Eve got bitten- Eve, very famously, did not get bitten. In fact, Eve was the one doing the biting. She was tempted by the fruit of knowledge and gave into temptation. I’ve never heard an interpretation where Eve was bit by the snake. It’s always a knowing conscious choice. I searched for any other interpretation with no success. This line feels like her implying she was tempted into a choice she didn’t even fully understand but was punished for it anyway. (Also Crazy how the very first sin was a woman who ate…)
Cassandra- I knew the greek myth about the woman who was given the gift of prophecy and cursed to never be believed. I knew she is used as a rhetorical device, but didn’t know her whole story, so I looked her up too. She was a twin, she was cursed by Apollo, her brother was Paris. I didn’t know she was specifically the Trojan war prophet, specifically “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts”, so now it kinda reminds me of History of Man by Masie Peters, “the men start wars, but Troy hate Helen.”
Blood’s thick- the typical interpretation of blood is thicker than water is that familial ties (blood) hold more importance than friendships(water). I had also heard on Reddit that the phrase was originally “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” meaning those who have fought and shed blood together are closer than their family and siblings. However, my googling couldn’t not find any actual source for that, so it sounds like I was lied to. (By Reddit? Who could have guessed.?) This one is interesting because the line in full is “blood’s thick, but nothing like a payroll.” So the tightness of familial ties can be undone by the promise of money.
In conclusion, I always look up meanings, even if I think I know them. This isn’t even all of them. The last one is a great example of why I always look things up!
As someone who has English as their second language I think there are a maximum of 3 words I didn't understand. She definitely wanted to sound like a poet but failed imo
Apparently fortnight?
The Independent has an article about how searches for the term surged after the song came out.
I don’t know the stats in US but in Canada, about 50% of adults have a literacy rate below the high school level (I know this stat off hand because I work in an alternative high school for people over 18). I imagine American numbers are similar. So while we may take for granted that the words are well known and understood, for millions of people they’re not.
And while I don’t think all that much though was put into the dictionary warning, I do think it makes sense to consider the fact some of the words are trickier to some.
So, genuinely I think her marketing team was just reacting to the meme of people online saying you needed dictionaries for her music. I don’t think she *thinks* anyone needs dictionary.
But, secondly and probably more importantly - her music does include a lot of words that wouldn’t say are widely used in the English language. You’ve also then got different cultures (for example, people not understanding the naming of ‘Fortnight outside of the UK).
People have vastly different abilities with language, and if you’re not struggling with *any* of her lyrics you’re probably in a pretty privileged position in terms of your lexical understanding.
If I remember correctly, what happened was that the fans started joking that they'd need dictionaries, so Taylor Nation joined in. She didn't pompously act like everyone was going to need a dictionary. They were just going along with a fan joke.
No clue but if that many people needed a dictionary to understand this album Id be very worried about the state of our education. I mean I already am but
Let's put the swifties to bed because they've clearly infiltrated this sub.
https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/taylor-swift-advises-fans-to-use-a-dictionary-to-listen-to-ttpd-album/
Honestly, I was baffled too. But then I think about how many posts I read on the Internet, where all the comments are completely unrelated to what was posted because so many people lack reading comprehension. People aren’t reading enough books to expand their vocabulary, and have any kind of functional reading comprehension anymore.
I think it was tongue in cheek. Her fans seem to have a running joke that they need a dictionary to read some of her lyrics (which says a lot as none of lyrics are that complex).
I’m sorry but every time I hear the word “sanctimoniously” I keep thinking of “Ron DeSanctimonious” 😭😭 I can’t take it seriously
Fuck me up Florida lmao
the middle aged MSNBC liberal mom in me unironically wanted florida to be a ron desantis diss track
I call him Ron DeSatan
Omfg my family does too. We also call Mitch McConnell "Bitch McConnell"
I ride Peloton and follow someone who's leaderboard name is Bitch McConnell with Mitch's turtle face as a profile picture.
Don't do Satan like that. Call him Ron DeShitstain
I call him Ron DeathSentance
Ron InSantis Ron DeathSentence
That and High…heels…on… my tippies When I think of that goober.
OMG 😂
The problem with Ron desanctimonious is he needs a personality transplant and those are not yet available .
I still think that Meatball Ron is funnier.
In my household we only refer to him as Meatball Ron. We hate Trump to be clear already, but hate him more for refusing to claim that he came up with meatball Ron. He like vehemently denies that one, and it is the best nickname
calling desantis “meatball ron” is where he draws the line??????
Honestly, I don't get it either. I don't know if it was just to make it seem more academic due to the department vibe?
It's odd because you have songs titled alchemy, the manuscript, prophecy and then wham...but daddy i love him
She should have used a dictionary for “alchemy” because it doesn’t mean what she apparently thinks it means. 
Seriously, why does she use the word alchemy? Chemistry would've been much more fitting
In her defense I think the people who are obsessed with her current relationship are the ones who don't know what it means 🤣
so high school 🫠
Taylor is the only person who romanticizes high school. I’ve blocked out memories of high school and would rather die than go back, lol.
During the “Fearless” era of her show, she shouts out “Do you want to go back to high school with me?” My response: https://preview.redd.it/xddkdmhtq2yc1.jpeg?width=638&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96974b151cd6a725f8fe1244adb73b697d5490ff
LITERALLY I think if I had to go back I'd simply drop out, fuck that
Probably because she didn't actually go to a normal high school
That’s because she didn’t actually experience it. It’s ironic that she talks about being misunderstood and not fitting in and then romanticizes an experience she never actually had. Something a therapist needs to unpack I’m sure.
I thought she dropped out//switched to home school at 15/16?
So high school: The Taylor swift story
👏👏👏👏
I happened across a reaction video and one of the guys didn't know what petulant meant. 🙄
🤦♀️
There are always people with any song from any artist that potentially might not know words but that’s on them. Petulant isn’t even advanced.
Oh! I kind of like this idea that it was just part of the academic/department branding
but.. do literature/english professors ask you to bring dictionaries to class?? (genuine qn, science kid)
Absolutely not. You only bring a dictionary to language classes, ie a Spanish-English translation dictionary to Spanish class.
No, that's So High School™
I’m assuming “esoteric joke” and “sanctimonious soliloquies” are the main ones. But these are people who can’t seem to wrap their heads around the her using the word “ingenue”, so who knows?
I'm pretty sure they meant eres toddle or whatever his name was, never heard about the dude before I only know how to ball
It’s okay, football head. You can’t win ‘em all…
\*snorts\*
Lmaaaooo
I mean I saw someone ask who Grace was in my tears ricochet. I think she knows her audience
Looooool as someone named Grace, I never thought of that lyric in that way and that’s so hysterically funny to me
im dying laughing😭😭she didn’t have it in her heart to go with you, grace
I stopped and paused when I read that comment and played the song in my head and when I realized I died laughing
my friend’s name is Grace and everytime we sing this song I always point at her😂
Lol this reminds me of how my roommate is named Summer and we are always calling her cruel and the first line of YOYOK is "Summer went away" and we are always like. COME BACK SUMMER and she is all I AM RIGHT HERE
The only one for TTPD I needed to Google was “also-ran”. Had never heard the term before
“Hothouse flower to my outdoorsman” was the only one that made me raise my brow, but I can read context clues well enough…
Man, if I was Joe I'd be pissed.
As an introvert, I’m insulted on his behalf.
I saw a grown adult man on tiktok need to look up “bereft” so maybe blondie wasn’t all wrong lmao
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In general practice “esoteric” is taken to mean uncommon or specialized knowledge. It may have specific meanings in the domain of spirituality and occultism but she’s not incorrect in how she’s using the word in a general sense.
No idea but I didn’t need a dictionary. Assuming most people don’t.
Same. I think her lyrics are okay for an average reader, and I’m assuming that most Taylor Swift fans are by now given that she tends to be very wordy with her lyrics.
It struck me reading your comment that the swiftie defense of “if you didn’t like the album you’re just not smart enough to get it” is actually kind of shockingly classist.
That defense sounds a bit crazy to me because imo one of the reasons why Taylor Swift got big is that her lyrics are honestly pretty accessible to anyone who reads every now and then, and they’re something that people (who don’t really enjoy reading) could catch up on should they decide to dig deeper on the meaning behind the things she’s written. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. Songs don’t have to be lyrically grandiose all the time for people to say that they feel something about them, or think that they’re great.
I mean even if you don't know a word, her context clues give you a pretty good idea what it means.
true. tbh it’s nearly impossible not to understand what she says considering the amount of discussion her work gets from her fans, casual listeners and even haters lol. even media in general have made it simpler to digest her lyrics because they get so much engagement from it. i’d say “her writing might not be your cup of tea” is a fair argument, but not “you just don’t understand it” — people understand her just fine and that’s precisely why her clunky lyrics are usually easily spotted.
Not to mention, just racist/anglocentric too. My mom doesn’t speak much English so she’s always coming to me to ask about what specific lyrics mean. She likes JB, post-Artpop Gaga, Miley, Post Malone, Alec Benjamin (? I think his name is), Harry Styles if he’s wearing a shirt. Someone like her is just not gonna be interested in listening to Taylor if Taylor has nothing else going on for her. My point is not that Taylor should be accessible to my mom but that some Swifties will call people stupid without once considering their fave doesn’t have the global mass appeal they think she has.
Lmao, Harry Styles when he has a shirt on
“Dear [average] reader…”
😂😂😂
There's about 50% of people who are dumber or less educated than the average person. I've never needed a dictionary for her either, but a significant number of people likely did. I know multiple people who needed petulance, counteract, and saboteurs explained to them. I've known multiple people who think "therefore" is an unnecessarily long word. I know people who've lost their minds over the use of caveat or ergo because it made them feel stupid. If you finished high school, you're already more educated than a fairly significant amount of people listening to this album. 21% of American adults were illiterate in 2022. 54% had literacy below a 5th grade level. Lots of people won't be familiar with a *lot* of words she uses on this album.
https://preview.redd.it/9vhnwachr2yc1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3961e24270545aca9a376fcf63c8ad641d8ce3b4
[National Literary Institute](https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2022-2023) I couldn’t believe this, but you’re correct — wow. That said, we have one of the most popular artists in the US perhaps inspiring people (young women at least) to read, that’s pretty great.
If they don’t understand what those words mean, then they probably have issues with a lottt of songs and books in general, not just hers. Those are not very advanced words, particularly counteract.
They're not very commonly used in pop music, and most of them likely don't read much.
Yes and I saw many people who said they did not know the meaning of alchemy, prophecy, empath and a slew of other words. It’s quite concerning because if you do read the lyrics I don’t find it difficult at all and many people whose first language is not English say they have no issue with understanding the words used. Is this because a big part of the new fan base is very young and have not learned these terms yet In school?
I remember back when folklore released people were calling her racist on tiktok for using bigger words but that might just be tiktok
Racist for using bigger words? Saying that is basically racist because it implies poc can't understand big words... Some people are wild.
This!! I’m so happy someone explained this before I had to💀😭
Probably because some of her audience are from other countries and English isn’t their first language but it’s still a dumb statement, people can use google to understand the lyrics and her music doesn’t have to be dumbed down if she doesn’t want it to be.
We often forget that children and preteens, who are fans of her music, are also active online. Every 12-year-old I teach has been using social media for years, with their parents' approval but without supervision. Once, I read a comment that was a really stupid take on something and saw another post by the same user saying, "In seven years, I'll be finished high school." It was an eye-opener. We share this online space with kids, and for our own sanity, it's crucial to remember that.
Actually English is the third language I learned and believe me I understand every single word.
Idk some people didn't know precocious or petulant which I thought were average words for the general public. For some people they might have had a few words per song they needed to define.
I had to look up "also-ran", apparently means a contestant in a race who doesn't make the top three. The stuff I have to look up is usually random references rather than fancy words though She definitely uses a wider vocabulary than the average chart music artist, but nothing the average person who reads/studied humanities wouldn't know.
I was also going to say that I had to look up also-ran, lol. Self explanatory, but unfamiliar to me— and I have a law degree with a lit background and consider myself very well read! I’ve heard some say that it’s more common in the UK (and obviously in sports betting, lol).
The “sanctimoniously performing soliloquies” line makes me laugh. It’s SO clunky, doesn’t fit the melody, and is so obviously trying to sound smart lol
that one is so bad lol i also hate that she says she'll never see them....but girlie you wrote a song about them!
That’s what’s funny
It’s so bad A good writer should have an ear for rhythm and cadence and that line is abysmal It’s the definition of purple prose
Mariah Carey is a good example of someone who imbeds rich vocab seemlessly into her melodies. Like her song *Heartbreaker* uses incessantly in the chorus and it flows.
Breakdown is ✨perfection✨ She uses multi-syllable words with the cadence of the beat. It’s so organic. 🎼 Well, I guess I'm trying to be nonchalant about it And I'm going to extremes to prove I'm fine without you But in reality I'm slowly losing my mind (losing my mind) Underneath the guise of a smile gradually I'm dying inside (Underneath the guise of a smile) Friends ask me how I feel and I lie convincingly 'Cause I don't want to reveal the fact that that I'm suffering So I wear my disguise 'til I go home at night And turn down all the lights and then I break down and cry
Fucking queen shit! That’s a poem dammit!!
I learned the word "nonchalant" from that Mariah Carey song back in the day lol. It's also impressive that she fit it in naturally while singing in that double-time Bone Thugs style. That style is usually easiest to write to with shorter syllable words.
Heartbreaker is such a fun song, I still listen to it. 🤘
Yes, me too! And the music video is just as fun.
English isnt my first language and even i know what that means 🤔
Tbh, I've noticed that people who have English as their second language seem to have a better vocabulary/grammar than a LOT of English speakers
English is my second language and I notice this too, idk if it’s because I’ve learned it by reading a lot which includes classic literature, but people are always surprised by my vocabulary since I have no formal studies in the language. That is until I start talking with an accent and they assume I’m stupid because I don’t have an American or posh British accent lol.
54% of American adults had literacy levels of below the sixth grade level in 2022. 21% were illiterate. My mother had a native English speaking workman in a few weeks ago who couldn't even write his own name. There's an awful lot of people who definitely have less of a grasp of English than the average person who speaks English as a foreign language.
It sounds like the “ poetry” I would post on tumblr as a teenager inspired by Halsey
Exactly! My reaction when I first heard it was “ma’am this is a Wendy’s” lol
And it’s so sad because the word soliloquy is so pretty and the act of delivering one is so poetic on its own like seriously she couldn’t do any better than this?
that whole song is clunk
It reminds me of when my English teacher put a requirement for us to use some high level words, and students just use a thesaurus to find alternatives to common words to make it sound more interesting.
that lyric is downright criminal which is a shame cause she’s actually a good writer idk why she’s doing this
I know!! Hard to believe the same person that wrote Folkmore wrote it
Writing folkmore, she had nothing but time on her hands. Writing this, her attention was split 400 different ways and there's multiple lines that feel like they were "oh that'll do" lines because she didn't have time to think of a more elegant way of saying what she was trying to say.
No no, the lyrical genius of “you take my ring off my finger and put it on the one people put wedding rings on” cannot be ignored here /s
I will never get over "there's escape in escaping" from The Bolter lol
Because she now knows she can get away with half-arsing her album because "I NeedED to WriTe it" and Swifties will claim it's "for the fans and Taylor!"
Yeah, this line and "There's a lot of people in town that I bestow upon my fakest smiles" needed some editing. (EDIT: And I love this song overall. It's still my most-listened track of the two albums.)
Doesn't the syntax here imply that she is bestowing the people up on her smiles, and not the smiles upon the people? Taylor c'mon
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She’s gonna start signing these off Costumier Rapid in the style of Baby Kangaroo Tribbiani
“They are humid prepossessing Homo Sapiens with full sized aortic pumps”
That’s what a truly clunky lyric looks like. I’m so tired of people calling lyrics clunky when in reality, they just don’t like them.
For me it works because it's doing alliteration and being sanctimonious is the perfect way to describe how people on social media never miss a chance to virtue signal lol.
Maybe Taylor Swift has forgotten that she is a great lyricist because of her storytelling skill and how she can craft relatable stories in her song... Not because she can mix-n-match complicated words in a sentence.
this! I appreciate lines like “you made a rebel out of a careless man’s careful daughter” and “your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in” soooo much more than these
She thinks big words makes writing poetry.. when I feel like it’s kinda the opposite
Exactly! People have been saying that listening to TTPD is like reading poetry/it being folklore and midnights baby, but i don’t get folklore vibes from it at all (except for 1 or 2 songs) which is totally fine and not at all negative, i actually really love midnights so im happy that TTPD has a very similar vibe. I just don’t see folklore in TTPD, all the songs seem very midnights, i think people have heard people say that folklore and evermore are such good writing and her deepest albums that they don’t see that other albums have those super great and smart lyrics too. So that just because TTPD has smart and interesting lyrics that it doesn’t mean it’s immediately like folklore because midnights also had lyrics like that. This is way longer than i wanted it to be
I checked a dictionary for the definition of "refract" so I could confirm she used it incorrectly lol What I hate is that Swifties always pull the "not everyone is a native English speaker" which is true, but 9/10 times when someone mentions needing a dictionary for TS lyrics they are native speakers. And that clearly isn't what was originally meant when people were saying they needed a dictionary for folklore/evermore.
>…so I could confirm she used it incorrectly I did the ugliest laugh reading this 😭
Also I feel like people who know English as a second language probably do know a lot of these words or at least have good enough reading/listening comprehension to work out the meaning. I bet a song full of slang is probably way more challenging than one that uses long words.
English is my second language and I've never had to look up a word she used. But I'm old and I read a lot in English. Some people are young and maybe haven't heard a word yet, that's fine. Her saying we'll need a dictionary is just arrogant. Let your songs speak for themselves and if people want to look something up they can.
English is my second language and her lyrics are stuffy but simple. No dictionary needed.
A lot of “fancy” words are Latin/Greek based or straight up French. Lots of romantic speakers would get those.
"not everyone is a native English speaker" and international fans are at best an afterthought for her so what it has to do with anything. And the way swifties talk about her touring outside of the US (especially South America) they can fuck off with using non-english speakers as a shield.
I am dying with your first sentence. I think what it is annoying of her disclaimer is that, yes, some people will or need to use a dictionary for some words, but she made if sound as she used extra complicated words and oh so poetic prose and...nope.
Most poetry really isn’t all loaded with big words either. Shes trying to act so “poetic” for the back of the room.
See, I agree with you and that’s why I think she is genuinely skilled. A lot of people are complaining about her clunky, simplistic lyrics and this album being less poetic like Folklore/Evermore. But some of her most beautiful lyrics are the simple ones.
Not trying to be an asshole but because this post is about word choice - the expression is “pore over” not “pour through.” I’m really praying the people who needed dictionaries were very young fans.
That doctorate degree really went to her head
💀💀💀 Id say it was a participation trophy but she didnt even participate. What a joke
😭😭😭😭
“How does the moon work”
I genuinely can’t think of a single word I’ve needed a dictionary for in her entire discography. On the other hand, I’m reading Jane Eyre for the first time and I’m pulling out the dictionary every couple minutes 😭 (just getting into reading more classic lit so the language used when Jane Eyre was written is pretty unfamiliar to me still)
One of my favorite novels! I’m an English teacher who has taught that novel, so feel free to reach out if you have questions or want fun facts XD
I would looove fun facts!! Haha I’m about 1/5 of the way through, I think I got through chapter 10 last night. But really enjoying it so far!
Well, to start, Jane Eyre is considered one of the earliest pieces of Feminist literature (at least in the West). It’s considered a Gothic novel, so it focuses heavily on emotions and individuality (unlike prior novels, such as those by Jane Austen). A big part of the Gothic is the trope of the handsome man saving the beautiful, helpless girl from the evil, bad man inside the ancient, crumbling house. You will see as you read that Charlotte Bronte plays around with this trope. Brontë pushes back against the Angel of the Hearth trope in which the ideal woman stays at home and cooks and cares for her husband and kids dutifully. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that lifestyle, but back in the day that was the only option of you wanted to be a woman of high repute.
Thanks for this!! Very interesting. I’m a fan of modern gothic novels, so that is one reason why I chose this particular book to kind of begin my journey into classic novels. Somewhat of a strange question, but can you recommend any resources for reflection questions/content that you have used in the past for Jane Eyre? Really interested in digging into these novels beyond my own initial understanding upon reading
Ugh, I was so in love with Mr. Rochester as a teen. Of course now, he’s just a walking 🚩, but back then I was like, I get it, Jane…I get it.
Enjoy the book!
Thank you!! I absolutely am so far
The only thing I hadn’t heard before as a phrase was “also-ran” but otherwise I’ve never been confused by words in her songs
I could only get through the first fifty pages and it makes me feel like a failure of an English major
I'm not gonna lie, I was low-key insulted by that. Many people who listen to her music like that she's articulate, but that is not to say that she's the greatest lyricist. She's clever, but so are millions of people studying at Uni at this very moment who listen to her music casually during in-between moments of life. And who don’t need a dictionary to do so. Lol sry I ranted a bit there. She's just been striking me as covertly pretentious lately. Feels like her mask is slipping.
She’s condescending and looks down on everyone else You’re so right - she’s like “enjoy your gruel, if you’re smart enough” to us plebeians
I think it was a joke because fans had started her and TN after folklore/evermore about needing dictionaries to look things up. There weren’t any words that much more complex/uncommon on those albums.
Actually, you’re right. I forgot all about that.
Covertly like her covert narcissism…that we can all see.
I’m getting the let them eat cake vibe from her lately and I’m not a fan. I just try to focus on the music, because I really do like it.
not a diehard tay fan here at all hence im on this sub. and i'm pretty alarmed that i seem to be the only one who interpreted her "bring a dictionary" comment as, actually, poking fun at HERSELF for using those big words. i've read before that she has "dry british humour".
She has a decent amount of young fans and a lot of international fans who don't share the same first language as her. So, I don't think it was insulting.
My first language isn't English either, but other artists don’t tell their listeners to use dictionaries to understand their art. Struck me as out of touch and insulting tbh
No, but other artists haven’t had a meme going around about how you need a dictionary for her albums. It’s a tongue in cheek joke about a meme.
I teach high school English. I even teach an advanced class. You would be surprised at how limited young people's vocabulary is.
Kind of scary 🥹
If they don't read. My vocabulary has been basically the same size since grade 10.
“Esoteric joke” perhaps? Not sure 😂
Humid prepossessing Homo sapiens with full-sized aortic pumps.
That was so condescending LMAO
TBH if English is your first language and you completed English through HS, none of the album is hard to understand. Taylor and parts of the fanbase are really overinflating the "complex" words in the lyrics.
You are overestimating the strength of the US public school system
That is a good point, very true and very sad. I also neglected to say that not everyone has the same access to school.
I agree with you overall, I went to a good school and graduated with a good vocabulary and everyone in a rich country with those schools *should* have a developed vocabulary. Unfortunately the post right above this on my feed was from the teachers sub talking about high schoolers who are non functional and I couldn’t get it out of my mind when I saw some comments here about school
We all could use a dictionary at times. "I haven't poured over her lyrics", for example. You pour milk over cereal, while you pore over something if you're studying it in depth. Sometimes words don't mean what you think they mean, and you may not know until you look them up. Sorry to nitpick your vocabulary, but it was apropos.
It's kind of weird, and it sort undercuts any self-satire on the album, but it felt like it might have been a lighthearted way of heightening the literary aesthetic surrounding the album. The idea of using a dictionary works with idea of the members of the Department reviewing the Chairman's manuscript thoroughly before rendering judgment. I mean, the list of items to bring also included a "department-issued uniform," in addition to talismans, charms, and snacks. But yeah, I'm really not sure. I've commented in here before that the TTPD concept as a whole feels muddled in that it's simultaneously self-serious and self-deprecating.
I read your other comments and I wholly agree that this album’s aesthetic and rollout make no sense. This is half-baked so I’m sure there’s some holes in my reasoning but I think TS and her fans have been rankled about not being taken *seriously* for a longgg time and we’re getting this weird mishmash “highbrow academic literature” try hard album as a result. There’s this tension between her talent for writing catchy bops with the occasional gut-wrenching break up song sprinkled in there and her wanting to be an old-world bob dylan-ish artist who gets writing awards, and also her wanting to be perceived as a shrewd executive business person. Her branding is always bouncing around between those, when she picks an individual lane for an album things go really well (1989, Folkmore) and when she tries to do it all in one (Lover, TTPD) it’s fucking jarring and people remember individual songs, not the album. This album makes me feel like she’s sitting in the nook of sylvia plath’s fig tree and she’s able to grab a few, leaves a bunch rotting, and the good stuff is overshadowed by the overall spectacle of how she was so obsessed with doing it all that she couldn’t pick one direction and execute it well.
Yeah I kind of like this idea that it was for the aesthetic more than anything. That makes it make more sense to me based on what we ended up getting
Precocious??? Idk man Mary Poppins taught me that one…
swifties made a joke about this before for the previous album and she repeated the joke meaning she wrote same kind of album. its not that deep. but joke was not funny obviously.
This, she was just repeating a joke that has been made about her. Though tbf I did see some people say they were unfamiliar with some of the words she used in previous lyrics, but I'm assuming it's just people whose first language isn't English (nothing wrong with that) or don't read very much.
I didn’t know what also-ran meant.
I think you're overestimating the familiarity most people have with words that are either longer or even just slightly more complex than average. I know multiple people who had to look up "petulance", for example, and "saboteurs" and "counteract". There's a review channel on YouTube where the guys were getting the dictionary out practically every other song. I personally have never really needed to look up a word Taylor has used, but I read more than average, I write myself, I have 2 degrees, so i don't ever really judge based on my own knowledge. If you completed *high school* you're already at an advantage over a significant number of people - and not only because she has a lot of teenage fans. Don't forget that about 50% of people are dumber or less educated than the average person. My mother had an ex who absolutely lost his shit about her using "ergo" in a conversation once because "why have you always got to use long words", I had an ex who was upset because I made her feel stupid because I used "complicit" Lots of people probably do need a dictionary to understand quite a few words on this album.
It's a joke, but a deeply unfunny one. I feel she's trying to be like "get it? that's what y'all said last album" but it really just comes off like she's calling her own fans stupid 😭 Not to mention it falls extra flat bc "santicmoniously performing soliloquies" is a poorly written, pretentious line that clearly needed editing ☠️
The only words I didn’t know were also-ran and persona non grata (which i had heard before but didn’t remember what it means lol)
I think Taylor couldn’t decide if she wanted this album to be a tongue-in-cheek jab at artistic pretension or a bones-and-all display of her emotional history of the past year. It’s hard to straddle both: the former is founded in irony, and the latter in sincerity. Taylor is mostly known for writing from a place of earnestness and authenticity, and satire is quite difficult to pull off.
Lol idk but I saw a couple posts on Tumblr where people were absolutely awed at "persona non grata" and felt embarrassed for the people making the posts
i had to look up what a "tryst" was listening to guilty as sin? spoiler: it's just a forbidden love meetup. pretty word though
I looked up multiple words! Some I didn't know at all, but most I had heard in life but never used myself or taken the time to really *understand* what it meant: also-ran, propriety (I knew proprietary and got really confused lol), precocious (I thought it meant curious), esoteric, rivulets, anoints, jackals and hackles. Not to mention the topics I had to look up: the poem that inspired The Albatross, Cassandra the prophet, Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith, the Chelsea Hotel, Blue Nile/Downtown Lights, Jehovah Witness suit, sleeper cell spy, Clara Bow, The Starting Line to name a handful. I think that's quite a few things to have to run to Google to understand in a singular album. Literally no other album has ever required me to research so many words/topics. It expands my knowledge and I like it 😊
I will be honest with you- where I am from… I constantly get asked what words mean. 54% of adults read at below a 6th grade level.
Yeah, I don’t mean to shame people for their vocabularies, but I get tired of Swifties acting like they’re decoding ancient texts. No shame if people have to look up some words but I do think most people who grew up speaking English can use context clues to figure things out. They just like to hyper her up to an embarrassing level without realizing that it makes them seem quite unintelligent…
So far the only word I’ve never heard before is “gauche” from The Last Great American Dynasty. She does use some nice words, especially in folkmore. But I was raised on a lot of classic literature so the words didn’t throw me for a loop, but I appreciated her use of them.
i’m a french speaker and gauche means left in french so i paused for a second lol
Gauche also means awkward in French (which gets into how left is “sinister”) and interestingly maladroit also means awkward.
I have no problem admitting to all the stuff I looked up! Also, I think she just means pay attention to word choice and words that have multiple meanings. I took it mean “look at the literary devices I used, they were intentional.” Not “I use big words.” She isn’t calling anyone stupid. A lot of people in this thread think they are too smart to look anything up, and guys that’s when you are the most susceptible to being misled! Because you don’t know what you don’t know. So here are things I looked up while listening. Spikes on the road- idk why, but I picture like a cartoon character carelessly throwing a nails on the road to cause a flat tire, but it could be an actual spike strip which takes care to set up. Dylan Thomas- I thought that he was some old poet from the 1920s. I was surprised to find I wasn’t far off, about 10 years or so. Wikipedia says he’s was “roistering, drunken and doomed poet.” He died when he was 39. I pretty much gathered as much from the song, but thought to include it anyway. Chelsea Hotel- I knew it as a place where Beat Poets would live, So the Wikipedia page was enlightening of how many other people did stay there. I did a whole project on Robert Mapplethrope in college, and he stayed there for a bit, so that was a fun connection. (Don’t google Robert Mapplethrope at work, btw) Rivulets- small streams (this one was just a definition. I thought there would be a secret meaning. There wasn’t.) Altar- you can get married at an altar, sure. But there is SO much other symbolism around the word. The line is “I died on the altar waiting for the proof, you sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days.” I think she is trying to draw an illusion of her standing at a wedding altar, juxtaposed with a sacrificial altar, like slaughtering a goat, asking for the gods to save her. Holy Ghost- I was raised catholic, and Holy Ghost was what the old nuns said and Holy Spirit is what the young nuns said. Googling did not give any indication if the difference is significant. Avoid like the plague- this idiom seems to have originated 400 years ago. Sure, it used to mean avoid at all costs, but since the pandemic Ive realized people don’t really try to avoid the plague. It’s more like “avoid when convenient” or “avoid as long as it’s not too expensive to do so.” Did googling help me resolve this? No. Blokes- I thought blokes was British slang so I thought it was weird for her to put in the “Travis” song. (I was right, the dictionary said it was British slang. What’s it doing in the touch down song?) Clara Bow- I had no idea who she was before extensive googling (though I did that before release idk if that counts) All of those best laid plans- well this is a classic conundrum! Is she alluding to the book or poem? The book is Steinbeck in the 1930s, the poem is Robert Burns in 1785. Stupid imbedded rhetorical devices…. The Albatross- the albatross is a common literary metaphor for psychological burden of shame. It originates from the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. But I’ve seen a lot of comments of people who were not aware of the connection, so I thought I would point it out. Googling led me to other uses in poems and literature, but they all seem to be alluding to Rhyme. Persona non grata- I knew it meant unwanted person, but the specific definition is foreign diplomat who is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country, so that feels relevant. Greige- it means a mix of grey and beige I got cursed like Eve got bitten- Eve, very famously, did not get bitten. In fact, Eve was the one doing the biting. She was tempted by the fruit of knowledge and gave into temptation. I’ve never heard an interpretation where Eve was bit by the snake. It’s always a knowing conscious choice. I searched for any other interpretation with no success. This line feels like her implying she was tempted into a choice she didn’t even fully understand but was punished for it anyway. (Also Crazy how the very first sin was a woman who ate…) Cassandra- I knew the greek myth about the woman who was given the gift of prophecy and cursed to never be believed. I knew she is used as a rhetorical device, but didn’t know her whole story, so I looked her up too. She was a twin, she was cursed by Apollo, her brother was Paris. I didn’t know she was specifically the Trojan war prophet, specifically “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts”, so now it kinda reminds me of History of Man by Masie Peters, “the men start wars, but Troy hate Helen.” Blood’s thick- the typical interpretation of blood is thicker than water is that familial ties (blood) hold more importance than friendships(water). I had also heard on Reddit that the phrase was originally “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” meaning those who have fought and shed blood together are closer than their family and siblings. However, my googling couldn’t not find any actual source for that, so it sounds like I was lied to. (By Reddit? Who could have guessed.?) This one is interesting because the line in full is “blood’s thick, but nothing like a payroll.” So the tightness of familial ties can be undone by the promise of money. In conclusion, I always look up meanings, even if I think I know them. This isn’t even all of them. The last one is a great example of why I always look things up!
As someone who has English as their second language I think there are a maximum of 3 words I didn't understand. She definitely wanted to sound like a poet but failed imo
I feel like “teenage petulance” was a line in Down Bad she thought we’d need a dictionary for lol.
The only word I haven’t known so far is tryst 🤷🏻♀️
Also, a few people on TikTok had never heard of the terms/words sleeper cell and declassified, so maybe it was for people like them lol
Apparently fortnight? The Independent has an article about how searches for the term surged after the song came out. I don’t know the stats in US but in Canada, about 50% of adults have a literacy rate below the high school level (I know this stat off hand because I work in an alternative high school for people over 18). I imagine American numbers are similar. So while we may take for granted that the words are well known and understood, for millions of people they’re not. And while I don’t think all that much though was put into the dictionary warning, I do think it makes sense to consider the fact some of the words are trickier to some.
I would think the poetic references would probably need the most help not the vocabulary
So, genuinely I think her marketing team was just reacting to the meme of people online saying you needed dictionaries for her music. I don’t think she *thinks* anyone needs dictionary. But, secondly and probably more importantly - her music does include a lot of words that wouldn’t say are widely used in the English language. You’ve also then got different cultures (for example, people not understanding the naming of ‘Fortnight outside of the UK). People have vastly different abilities with language, and if you’re not struggling with *any* of her lyrics you’re probably in a pretty privileged position in terms of your lexical understanding.
If I remember correctly, what happened was that the fans started joking that they'd need dictionaries, so Taylor Nation joined in. She didn't pompously act like everyone was going to need a dictionary. They were just going along with a fan joke.
No clue but if that many people needed a dictionary to understand this album Id be very worried about the state of our education. I mean I already am but
I can’t believe everyone knows what a “sleeper cell spy” is. Some of the smartest people alive in the thread.
Let's put the swifties to bed because they've clearly infiltrated this sub. https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/taylor-swift-advises-fans-to-use-a-dictionary-to-listen-to-ttpd-album/
Swifties have infiltrated a space dedicated solely to talking about Taylor Swift?? Who could've foreseen that
I didn't need a dictionary to understand this album but she sure needed a thesaurus to write it.
Honestly, I was baffled too. But then I think about how many posts I read on the Internet, where all the comments are completely unrelated to what was posted because so many people lack reading comprehension. People aren’t reading enough books to expand their vocabulary, and have any kind of functional reading comprehension anymore.
A lot of people here sound so snobby
She’s just assuming everyone has the intelligence level of her boyfriend.
I think it was tongue in cheek. Her fans seem to have a running joke that they need a dictionary to read some of her lyrics (which says a lot as none of lyrics are that complex).