Sesquipedaliarian: The wife and I are sesquipedaliarians.Me: Oh? What’s that?Sesquipedaliarian: It’s means a person who uses long words. Like, do you know what iambic pentameter is?Me: Yes.Sesquipedaliarian: And how a line of pentameter is five feet?Me: Uh-huh.Sesquipedaliarian: “Sesquipedalian” translates literally to “a foot and a half.” Basically a syllable and a half.Me: …okay.Sesquipedaliarian: We use a lot of big words.Me: Huh.
That is not, however, the problem. The problem as I saw it was the fact that the self-proclaimed sesquipedaliarian didn’t seem to see the value in using short words when short words are needed. Rather than focusing on how many syllables a word has in determining its value, I think that one should focus on how accurate or appropriate said word is in the situation. In addition, being able to pass a vocab test is not the same thing as having something interesting to say. (I therefore find it entirely appropriate that one possible definition of sesquipedalian is “given to the overuse of long words.”)
Therefore, from now on within the realm of Not-So-Gentle Reader, the definition of sesquipedaliarian shall be as follows:
ses*qui*pe*da*li*a*ri*an: (noun) A person who is pedantic to the point of pretension and finds it necessary to tell others how much he knows rather than simply engaging in conversation that would be mutually satisfying.
Synonyms: pedant, didact.