Big Words

I mentioned in my previous blog that I consider myself pretty good with words. However, it annoys me when people around me get all pedantic and try to impress me with how smart they are. I like to shut them up by saying, " When promulgating your esoteric cogitations, or articulating your superficial sentimentalities, and amicable, philosophical, or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let your conversations and communications possess clarified conciseness. In other words, don't use big words!" (This brilliant comeback has been attributed to Mark Twain and Grenville Kleiser - I don't know for sure who actually came up with it, but there are several more sentences if you want to look it up. I don't go any further because then I'd be the obnoxious one. (My husband says, "Too late. That whole diatribe is pedantic and obnoxious and you become the buffoon to shut up.")

It's kind of like reciting the prologue to the Canterbury Tales in Old English. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Reciting a few lines is one thing, but if you go any further - instead of impressing people, you will become the object of their pity.

I still recommend memorizing things like this anyway. When someone starts rattling on, you can pick up where they leave off for a line or two more just to smack them down. However, if you do decide to use this or anything like unto it, don't let anyone hear you do it more than once. Once is funny. More than once is pathetic.