Words nobody knows

About 15 years ago, you know, the Lesser Cretaceous,  I was sharing a dinner with various well-educated friends.  Doctors and doctorates, lawyers and laymen, nobody at the table who didn't have at least one college degree, and most with two or three.  


Figuring it was time to be snotty, I regaled them with the anecdote of being at a meeting of decidedly less educated untermenschen, and hearing a lecturer use the word "perspicacious."  I mentioned being amused at the notion that this audience would know that term.

 Suddenly, I realized I was getting a bunch of blank stares.  None of the well-educated, degree-laden friends at the table knew the word.  They lacked...perspicacity!

Well, I'M not a slow learner.  Since then, I've been careful to use less obscure words.  I've banished "big words" from my everyday speech.  No more obscure, polysyllabic obfuscation for THIS librocubicularist!

Okay, so I'm still working on it.

What words have you regretted spouting?  (Obscenity cheerfully accepted.)   --AlextheKay


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