stilted

もう何十年も竹馬なんて見た事がありませんが、英語で竹馬を "stilt" と言うのはいつ覚えたのか忘れた程昔から知っています。今読んでいる "OUT ON A LIMB" に "stilted conversation" と言う表現が次のように出て来ました。
I talked with Gerry from exotic parts of the world but it was difficult to discuss my growing interest in spiritual metaphysics on long distance lines, or indeed in any way at all. I wished that we could meet, but my schedule never fitted into his availability, and vice versa. With each stilted conversation I was aware of how deeply grounded in his politics he was, and also that my attitude toward his reluctance to express my interest in my concern for expanded consciousness was one of growing impatience.
竹馬に乗っているような会話、つまりぎこちない会話なのでしょうか？辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (Of a manner of talking or writing) stiff and self-conscious or unnatural: we made stilted conversation
・Collins Dictionary: 1.(of speech, writing, etc) formal, pompous, or bombastic 2.not flowing continuously or naturally ⇒ stilted conversation
・Vocabulary.com: The adjective stilted describes something—usually a style of writing or speaking—that is unnaturally formal.
Imagine someone walking awkwardly on a pair of stilts and you have a good impression of the word stilted — wooden and stiff. Stilt is found in the mid-15th century, referring to walking on wooden stilts across marshy ground. A hundred years later, the word stilted came to refer to the posts holding up a building. It wasn't until 1820 that the word was used as we use it now, to describe writing or speaking that does not flow smoothly.
堅苦しいギコチなさなのですね。これは簡単に覚えられそうです。