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
Christmas Morning
8 hours ago
9 comments:
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.
yeah, i'd skip over those articles. :)
Good Lord! People who overly use those words do sound pompous.
Your bashing of the pompous is inchoate. Keep going.
Can't beat that with a greasy stick!
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....
I have bookmarked the PAW website in my collection of language sites. Great post!
Ah, the minutiae!
Thanks for the link and the kind words!
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