http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SesquipedalianLoquaciousness

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Elizabeth Swann: Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal.

Captain Barbossa: There are a lot of long words in there, Miss; we're naught but humble pirates. What is it that you want?

Elizabeth: I want you to leave and never come back.

Barbossa: I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request. Means "no." Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal.There are a lot of long words in there, Miss; we're naught but humble pirates. What is it that you want?I want you to leave and never come back.I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request. Means "no."

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Sesquipedalian: A long word, or characterized by the use of long words. From the Latin roots meaning "a foot-and-a-half long."

Loquaciousness: That would be garrulousness, verboseness, effusiveness. How about "chattiness"?

A predilection by the intelligentsia to engage in the manifestation of prolix exposition through a buzzword disposition form of communication notwithstanding the availability of more comprehensible, punctiliously applicable, diminutive alternatives. Also known as "gross verbosity". Related to this is the use of inkhorn terms, loanwords from a foreign origin that are pretentious to an average speaker.

In brief: "smart" characters using long words when short ones would be better, especially when they are also motor mouths. Characters afflicted with this trait often seem to go out of their way to over-complicate their speech, probably because writers think that this is the only way to show that someone is more intelligent than the average writer. This could also be the trait of a particularly anal-retentive character who always has to be right, the trait extending so far that the character always has to use exactly the right word — never using "blue" when "azure" or "indigo" or even "royal blue" would be more accurate, for example.

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Occasionally such characters may drop the long words if things get particularly dire, to emphasize just how bad things are (in the same way as a Sarcasm Failure). Alternatively, they may get even more wordy as they get more emotional, leading to increasingly detailed but ultimately incoherent ranting that falls too easily into wangst. Frequently another character will respond with something like "Wouldn't it be easier to just [whatever the brainy person said, in layman's terms]?" or "And [layman's terms version], too!" In The United States, when someone really has no idea what the person says, they'll say something like, "Could you repeat that in plain ol' Galveston English?"

Williams Syndrome can lead to this kind of behavior. People with Asperger Syndrome and some forms of Dyslexia may do this in an attempt to be as precise as possible, ironically making themselves harder to understand.

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The Narcissist, The Paranoiac, and other less-than-pleasant personalities may engage in this as well, often to try and convince others—or themselves—that they are smarter than most people. On a more sinister level, it can also be used as a form of verbal Gaslighting, in order to confuse, swamp, and manipulate the receiver so that a particular end may be met. The Con Man sometimes makes use of this trope too when passing off as a professional or an expert in their apparent "field", duping others into thinking that the only reason they don't understand what he/she is selling is that they are smarter than them or that they can trust them, when in fact they are spouting nonsense and looking to take advantage of their ignorance.

While maintaining a strong endeavor to avoid flogging a deceased equine, err I mean trying hard not to beat a dead horse, in some cases technical jargon is necessary to be understood, but in too many cases a person doesn't consider that the audience is not that technically inclined and a simpler, although less precise description would work just as well.

One of the symptoms of Spock Speak, but averted in a good Private Eye Monologue. Usually also a Motor Mouth. Goes well with British accents, too. Used frequently in Sommelier Speak. Often takes advantage of the fact that Talking Is a Free Action, and could be a case of Acoustic License if the surroundings would make it difficult to hear clearly in the first place, much less understand the words. Can often lead to an Expospeak Gag. See also Techno Babble, Antiquated Linguistics, Sophisticated as Hell, and Department of Redundancy Department. May result in Calling Me a Logarithm. If someone tries for this and can't get the words right, they're perpetrating Delusions of Eloquence. If the author commits this, see Purple Prose. The word Antidisestablishmentarianism is almost guaranteed to show up as well.

Very heavily associated with the Steampunk genre in particular, and Truth in Television in that case, as the Victorians did speak a form of English that was more complex and verbose.

It's worth noting that there is a word for the fear of long words; ironically, it's "sesquipedalophobia" often exaggerated by people into "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia".

The polar opposite of Buffy Speak and Layman's Terms. Big Words redirects here, for those of us who prefer to avert this trope in Real Life (or are just incapable of spelling it correctly off the tops of our heads). Contrast the Laconic Wiki. Compare and contrast Proverbial Wisdom for the typical speech patterns of wise, enlightened, and spiritual characters who use a lot of riddles, proverbs, and flowery metaphors. Also note the similarity to Techno Babble. May require one to have a Translator Buddy.

When a character attempts this but lacks the vocabulary to follow through properly, see Malaproper.

For a self-demonstrating version, please click here: Enjoy.

Examples:

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A Red Stripe beer commercial (titled "Big Word") shows a man giving an office presentation. He uses the word "equanimity", and the Red Stripe Band bursts in with the following: Ooh, look at you, using a big word in an office meeting all correctly and stuff!

You got a big presentation and colleagues to impress

why not employ complex vernacular to substantiate your intelligence...

Anime & Manga

Comic Books

Comic Strips

In Frank and Ernest, Frank and Ernest join The American Civil War reenactors because they just like saying Sesquicentennial.

Both Calvin and Hobbes from Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes are known for having particularly verbose discussions with each other. This is occasionally mentioned, such as in the Tenth Anniversary Collection, in contrast with his usual failing grades at school. He must obey the inscrutable exhortations of his soul. He once wrote a book report entitled "The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperatives in Dick And Jane: A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender Modes." What if someone calls us a pair of pathetic peripatetics? Calvin likes to use this to insult the school bully in a way he knows Moe won't understand. Calvin: Your simian countenance suggests a heritage rich in species diversity. Word of God also says he liked Calvin's ability to precisely articulate stupid ideas.

Invoked (as "pompousese") in this Pearls Before Swine strip.

Pearls Before Swine strip. Plato from Beetle Bailey has been known to use this, naturally enough since it's part of the stereotype he represents. On one occasion, he used it to gain access to a telephone meant only for official business by expressing his intentions so fancily the secretary didn't realise he was saying he was inviting his buddy over to the bar with the rest of them.

One FoxTrot strip had Jason making use of a dictionary and a thesaurus so he could tell his sister Paige "your corpulence is downright Brobdingnagian" without fear of reprisal.

Fan Works

Films — Animation

Basil in The Great Mouse Detective.

Mr. Ray from Finding Nemo: "Optical orbits up front. And remember, we keep our supraesophageal ganglion to ourselves. That means you, Jimmy." "Aw, man!"

Wordy villain Cat R. Waul in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is often wont to spit out long lines of English loquaciousness, and is often forced to describe his intent in simpler terms. He's voiced by John Cleese. Coincidence?... No.

Films — Live-Action

Literature

Live-Action TV

Magazines

The educational Scholastic Storyworks magazine has a section dedicated to Tyler Maxwell, aka the Word Nerd , whose incident involving a 10-pound dictionary falling on his head led him to being only able to use long and obscure words. Kids are encouraged to decipher what he is saying by using the dictionary.

Music

Podcasts

In The Adventure Zone: Dust, Augustus Parsons combines rather grandiloquent verbiage with a slow Southern drawl. Particularly noticeable when describing his "phantasmagoric" nature.

From Fat, French and Fabulous: "You're probably the only person I know who would use the phrase "provenance of their wares" in casual conversation." "Nevermind in the context of grave-robbing, at fucking all."

Pro Wrestling

Radio

Eugene on Adventures in Odyssey speaks this way to the point of hilarity or exasperation, depending on who he's speaking to. Katrina has a vocabulary to match Eugene's, but is careful to limit her verbosity to when they are speaking to each other, although even this seems to have changed by the time she returned from her bus trip.

W.C. Fields made this into a career.

The Bob & Ray character Dr. Eugene Stapley, the 'Word Wizard', is a broad parody of this trope... at times possibly just a bit broader than intended. After Bob suggests 'plunging straight into the mail': "Male and female serve only to differentialize one type of living creature from another. Now, undoubtedly some male members of the animal kingdom would be softer, say, to plunge into than others; but in any coincidence, the act of literally plunging into the male would in all probabilitiness be injureful!"

Tabletop Games

Bad roleplaying character descriptions can invoke this trope as the result of their players evidently consulting a thesaurus every few words in an attempt to sound eloquent or pad out their description to hundreds of words. This is just one example .

. The flavor text for the Magic: The Gathering card Uktabi Kong, apparently meant to convey that he's smarter than the average ape: "I desire the acquisition of a potassium-rich fruit comestible of substantial magnitude." It's a parody of the much loved (and hated) flavor text on Odyssey's Gorilla Titan: "I wanna banana this big!"

Theater

Video Games

Visual Novels

Ace Attorney: Luke Atmey from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Trials and Tribulations combines this with a flair for descriptions that are over-dramatic to the point of obtuseness. Phoenix can usually only manage a rough translation, usually for the benefit of Maya, who is more often totally lost. Also Redd White's fantabulous vocabulosity! And Valant Gramarye, who combines this with alliteration. Apollo even notes that "his overly loquacious manner can get annoying". Wesley Stickler and his penchant for using twenty words to say what that can be said in five deserves a mention too.



Web Animation

Web Comics

Web Original

Web Videos

Western Animation

Real Life