Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Pompous Ass Words

Let us consider pompous ass words, so beloved of editorial writers in some of the major newspapers and journals. These are those words which are more obscure than the simpler word for which it substitutes. The gentle reader is reminded, or made to believe, that the writer is more erudite than the reader and therefore should immediately be worthy of awe and automatic acquiescence to her or his point of view! It's kind of like the Ivy League equivalent to using a blackjack!

Anyway, this site introduces some of those words, and gives examples. But here's some right now: coruscating, scrofulous, pertinacious, contretemps, febrile, legerdemain, assiduous, mélange, nullipara, antipodal, vapid, and others. And there's more: also given are some examples from newspapers and magazines. This is, like hit lit!

Don't be an ass. Eschew obfuscation!


http://www.pompousasswords.com/www/index.htm



9 comments:

Linda Kay said...

Where's my dictionary? I'd have to look up some of these. Got to get back into my old Latin derivations to find out what the meaning is.

TexWisGirl said...

yeah, i'd skip over those articles. :)

Elvis Wearing a Bra on His Head said...

Good Lord! People who overly use those words do sound pompous.

Mike said...

Your bashing of the pompous is inchoate. Keep going.

Deena said...

Can't beat that with a greasy stick!

allenwoodhaven said...

I have what I consider a good vocabulary, but I don't know most of these words. Perhaps I'm not a pompous ass? I hope so....

Bilbo said...

I have bookmarked the PAW website in my collection of language sites. Great post!

Cherdo said...

Ah, the minutiae!

Dan said...

Thanks for the link and the kind words!