Today in rhetoric, we learned about Herbert Spencer, who thought that simple words were better because they required less energy to be spent in determining their meaning, unless one wants to evoke an emotional response. If an emotional response is in the interest of the speaker, then "sesquipedalian verbiage" is recommended by Mr. Spencer because words with longer syllables give the listener more time to think about them as he or she ingests them. OK.
I realize sesquipedalian verbiage isn't an entirely difficult phrase to figure out--big words, specifically "of many syllables" according to the OED. The entries for sesquipedalia are absolutely delightful. But back on track, a sesquipedal is one 6 1/2 feet tall. Is it ironic that sesquipedalian is six syllables?
What a fun word. Dr. Benkert asked us to use it in a sentence today: "Carl enjoys employing sesquipedalian verbiage; he believes one use of language is to confuse those who don't understand big words." Does this count?
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