Patrick Kurp of Anecdotal Evidence is a man after my own mold:
When I encounter a new word, lengthy or not, I like to know what it means and where it comes from. I won’t necessarily use it, in writing or speech, but I’ve grown accustomed to plugging holes in my knowledge of the world. Plain speaking is essential but so, on the right occasions, are eloquence and verbal lushness. Part of linguistic effectiveness is sensitivity to context and audience. When it’s not mere showing off, deployment of obscure words adds a pleasurable texture to poetry and prose – one of many reasons we read Shakespeare and Sir Thomas Browne. A gifted writer commands styles and is not limited to one. In addition, what’s obscure or pretentious to you may be familiar and homely to me.
My sentiments exactly.
The blogosphere is vast, and she is deep. If the ordinary modes of human interaction have left you high and dry in your quest for the like-minded, a little fishing in her vasty deeps should satisfy your needs.
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