![]() It's worth noting that there is a word for the fear of long words ironically, it's "sesquipedalophobia" often exaggerated by people into "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia". Very heavily associated with the Steampunk genre in particular, and Truth in Television in that case, as the Victorians did speak a form of English that was more complex and verbose. The word Antidisestablishmentarianism is almost guaranteed to show up as well. If the author commits this, see Purple Prose. If someone tries for this and can't get the words right, they're perpetrating Delusions of Eloquence. See also Techno Babble, Antiquated Linguistics, Sophisticated as Hell, Technical Euphemism, and Department of Redundancy Department. Often takes advantage of the fact that Talking Is a Free Action, and could be a case of Acoustic License if the surroundings would make it difficult to hear clearly in the first place, much less understand the words. One of the symptoms of Spock Speak, but averted in a good Private Eye Monologue. While maintaining a strong endeavor to avoid flogging a deceased equine, err I mean trying hard not to beat a dead horse, in some cases technical jargon is necessary to be understood, but in too many cases a person doesn't consider that the audience is not that technically inclined and a simpler, although less precise description would work just as well. The Con Man sometimes makes use of this trope too when passing off as a professional or an expert in their apparent "field", duping others into thinking that the only reason they don't understand what they are selling is that they are smarter than them or that they can trust them, when in fact they are spouting nonsense and looking to take advantage of their ignorance. On a more sinister level, it can also be used as a form of verbal Gaslighting, in order to confuse, swamp, and manipulate the receiver so that a particular end may be met. The Narcissist, The Paranoiac, and other less-than-pleasant personalities may engage in this as well, often to try and convince others-or themselves-that they are smarter than most people. People with Asperger Syndrome and some forms of Dyslexia may do this in an attempt to be as precise as possible, ironically making themselves harder to understand. Williams Syndrome can lead to this kind of behavior. Frequently another character will respond with something like "Wouldn't it be easier to just ?" or "And, too!" In The United States, when someone really has no idea what the person says, they'll say something like, "Could you repeat that in plain ol' Galveston English?" Alternatively, they may get even more wordy as they get more emotional, leading to increasingly detailed but ultimately incoherent ranting that falls too easily into wangst. Occasionally such characters may drop the long words if things get particularly dire, to emphasize just how bad things are (in the same way as a Sarcasm Failure). This could also be the trait of a particularly anal-retentive character who always has to be right, the trait extending so far that the character always has to use exactly the right word - never using "blue" when "azure" or "indigo" or even "royal blue" would be more accurate, for example. Characters afflicted with this trait often seem to go out of their way to over-complicate their speech, probably because writers think that this is the only way to show that someone is more intelligent than the average writer. In brief: "smart" characters using long words when short ones would be better, especially when they are also motor mouths. Related to this is the use of inkhorn terms, loanwords from a foreign origin that are pretentious to an average speaker. How about "chattiness"?Ī predilection by the intelligentsia to engage in the manifestation of prolix exposition through a buzzword disposition form of communication notwithstanding the availability of more comprehensible, punctiliously applicable, diminutive alternatives. Loquaciousness: That would be garrulousness, verboseness, effusiveness. From the Latin roots meaning "a foot-and-a-half long." Sesquipedalian: A long word, or characterized by the use of long words. ![]() Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
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