Thursday, March 7, 2019

ALDIBORONTIPHOSCOPHORNIO

ALDIBORONTIPHOSCOPHORNIO

A pompous person, not in words of one syllable but in a word of 10 syllables. This is what you call a long word. And why shouldn't there be an unduly long word, or sesquipedalian, for an individual who is unduly self-inflated and pretentious? From an old English burlesque with a title just as hard to pronounce, and later used by Sir Walter Scott to tag somebody he considered worthy of the name.



from Dimboxes, Epopts, and Other Quidams: Words to Describe Life's Indescribable People by David Grambs

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