Pomposity and Circumstances

In my last blog, I warned against the perils of trying to be too clever. I should have said that the one occasion when it's acceptable to use the sort of words I talked about is when you're employing them to prick someone else's pomposity. In such cases, I recommend that you throw in a word they probably won't understand. There's a great website that offers a word for each day of the (working) week. It's www.wordsmith.org and it's free. Even on those occasions when you already know the word, it's interesting to see it in use and to read the etymology (which doesn't tend lazily to default to Latin or Greek, but often goes all the way back to Sanskrit). Last week's offerings included "flagitious" (wicked), "thewless" (cowardly), "flaneur" (idler) and "cunctator" (procrastinator). All great words to keep up your sleeve for that moment when you want to prick someone's pomposity.