I just saw a clip from an Ashley Judd appearance on the Craig Ferguson show, promoting her horrible godawful boring movie of last year, Come Early Morning. And you know how much I hate her and her seeming inability to get through a single conversation without injecting 28-letter words into as many sentences as possible. I mean, if you said, “Hi” to her, she’d probably reply, “How delightful of you to bestow upon me such a breviloquent salutation,” or something to that effect.
Anyway. I jotted down, verbatim I might add, the following gems from her interview.
1. Referring to the paparazzi in the UK, Ashley said, “They’ve completely disabused me of the high school notion that there should be some verisimilitude of truth in the news.” I’m not kidding you. She used the word verisimilitude in a CASUAL CONVERSATION ON A TALK SHOW.
2. Responding to Craig’s comment about Ashley picking up a bit of a Scottish accent, she replied, “I used to have this crisis of conscience about my identity - I didn’t have a consolidated sense of self, so wherever I am, I’ll sort of drift into some reflections of that (accent).” Who talks like this?
So anyway, I watched this video and was so sickened by it that I felt a need to find a picture of her in shoes incredibly similar to ones I wore in high school show choir and a hideous eggplant dress that makes her look 5 months pregnant, and lo and behold, this popped up in my google search. Sweet, sweet justice.
You KNOW how much I share your hatred of Ashley, and this type of exchange is why. Ashley fancies herself an intellectual - scratch that, she only wants others to THINK she is an intellectual. (I mean, really, if you have intellectual aspirations, you actively pursue intellectual endeavors. Like, I don’t know … going to school?? And no, her BA from UK doesn’t count. Half the population of Lexington has a UK degree, and it gets them great jobs at Starbucks and Walmart.) So she talks like she THINKS intellectuals talk - big, fancy words - and not being one herself, fails miserably. She always sounds like she just opened her high school vocab book and is practicing the word of the day. Why is that, I have wondered, when others (professors, scholars, authors, etc.) can use those same words and sound perfectly normal?
1) She uses the words in inappropriate settings. Even Rhodes Scholars tone it down in social situations. A Craig Ferguson interview is a social gab-fest, not a doctoral lecture.
2) She often uses the words inappropriately. In any Ashley interview, there is at least one “big word” that she botches. Here, it was, “verisimilitude of truth.” Versimilitude = the appearance/ semblance of truth. So, she really said something like, “the appearance of truth of truth.” (”Hello, is this the Redundancy Department of Redundancy?”) Furthermore, the word “verisimilitude” is typically reserved for descriptions of artistic endeavors (literature, plays, or movies) or philosophical theories. It is NOT a straight-out synonym for “probability.” Classic Ashley - she (sort of) gets the definition right, but misses the proper connotation and nuance. That’s because she’s never actually HEARD anyone use the word before(again, she is not an intellectual and does not associate with intellectuals), she’s just looked it up in the dictionary.
3) Her vocabulary does not enhance her ability to communicate her thoughts, it hampers it. This is an important point, but subtle. A large vocabulary, when used properly, makes one’s speech more accurate and succinct. (It is so much quicker and easier, for example, to say “succinct” than “short, clear, and to-the-point, but in a good way.”) Ashley will say, “one with an inclination toward prevarication” instead of “liar.” It is ridiculous.
You are SO RIGHT. She’s either talking like a Deepak Chopra playbook, or she’s sounding like she’s just looked up how to replace the word “and” in a thesaurus. Or (horrors) BOTH AT THE SAME TIME.
HATE.
Did you know that she just graduated UK last year (2007)? How about those apples?
And she only graduated because UK felt sorry for her. I don’t believe for one second that she had enough credits to graduate all along and they just “forgot” to send her the final paperwork. What a load.
She’s such a poser.
Your comment was perfect, Shannon.