Big words

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"'''Big words'''" (a.k.a., '''sesquipedalianism''' or '''''argumentum ad sesquipedalia verba''''') is a common [[snarl word]] used by people too lazy to get a dictionary. Its implication is that anything that can't be described in plain English is not worth talking about at all, which makes for considerable difficulty for the speaker being challenged when the "big word" is pretty much the only available word to describe what's going on. Sesquipedalianism is, at its core, the act of using long words, especially habitually. It can be done for a variety of reasons, with one of the common ones being because you believe that the words are more precise. Sesquipedalianism can also be used in an attempt to make oneself sound more educated, or like one knows what one is talking about. [[Crank]]s are a common user of it in that way. Sesquipedalianism, whether ''argumentum ad sesquipedalia verba'' or not, has an increased tendency to become [[word salad]].

Anybody familiar with any kind of [[jargon]] — and jargon that leaves outsiders stumped exists even in blue collar jobs — will know that "big words" are just damned useful. Saying "[[black hole]]" is just much handier than having to explain "Extremely dense object of matter collapsing into itself with a [[gravity]] so high not even [[light]] can escape it" every single time you mention it and even subtly getting that explanation wrong for the sake of brevity. Unfortunately, many "big words" are Greco-Roman, and "plainspoken folks" tend to have an [[Anti-intellectualism|irrational aversion]] to [[Latin]].

On the other hand, "big words" can also, if properly misused, be a powerfully distracting form of [[bullshit]], thus making the argument against somewhat understandable if misguided (after all, such apparent [[populism]] certainly [[Style over substance|sounds good to confused audiences]], even if it's really a [[One-way hash argument|veiled appeal to stupidity]]). As above, the proper solution is to invest in an appropriate dictionary.

A good example of a meaningless sesquipedalian word is "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from ''[[Mary Poppins]]'' (although that one is deliberately satirical).{{efn|While the term was popularised in the 1964 film starring {{wpl|Julie Andrews||,}} it had actually been in one form or another used since 1931 to describe something extraordinarily good.<ref>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/origin-supercalifragilisticexpialidocious The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic']</ref>}}

==Etymology==
Sesquipedalianism comes from a [[Latin]] adjective, sēsquipedālis, which means unnaturally large or long, plus suffixes to make it the right form of the word.<ref>Sesquipedalinism. ''Wiktionary'', retrieved from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sesquipedalianism</ref> One who uses sesquipedalianisms is either a sesquipedalian or a sesquipedalianist. The word was likely first used in the ''Ars Poetica'' of the Roman poet {{wpl|Horace||.}}<ref>Sesquipedalianism. ''Dictionary.com'', retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2010/05/02/sesquipedalianism</ref>

==''Argumentum ad sesquipedalia verba''==
The ''argumentum ad sesquipedalia verba'', literally the argument from excessively long words, is an occasional tactic of cranks and their ilk. It is related to ''[[Quidquid latine dictum, altum videtur]]'', in that many sesquipedalianisms are words from Latin, or Greek, or, upon occasion, other foreign languages. Very few of them are primarily of Germanic origin (e.g., [[Schadenfreude]]), though some come from German. The ''argumentum ad sesquipedalia verba'' is often an appeal to intellect or an [[Appeal to novelty]]. ''Argumentum ad sesquipedalia verba'' can be considered a kind of [[word magic]], though not the common kind highlighted in the entry.

==Notable sesquipedalians==
*[[Scott Alexander]], [[LessWrong]]-rationalist blogger and psychiatrist
*[[William F. Buckley]], "Sesquipedalian Spark of Right"<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/business/media/28buckley.html William F. Buckley Jr., 82, Dies; Sesquipedalian Spark of Right] by Douglas Martin (Feb. 28, 2008) ''New York Times''.</ref>
*[[Jacob Rees-Mogg]], held the record for using the longest word in the UK parliament, "floccinaucinihilipilification"<ref>[https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/jacob-rees-mogg-hails-schoolboy-used-longest-word-parliament-hero-times/ Jacob Rees-Mogg hails schoolboy who used longest word in Parliament a ‘hero of our times’], iNews (UK), August 1, 2017</ref>
*[[Alan Sokal]], American physicist and mathematician; known for his criticism of [[postmodernism]]

==See also==
*[[Technobabble]]

==External links==
*{{wpa|Verbosity}}
*[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SesquipedalianLoquaciousness Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness] on [[TVTropes]]

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Big Stuff]]
[[Category:Informal fallacies]]
[[Category:Jargon]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Latin phrases]]

Categories: Big Stuff, Informal fallacies, Jargon, Language, Latin phrases