inkhornism means pedantry; a preference for inkhorn terms. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “inkhornism” is a great word
The pedantic use of obscure, ostentatious, and often newly borrowed words. From inkhorn (a small portable vessel for ink, hence a metonym for scholarly writing) + -ism (forming nouns of action or practice), first attested in 1597. Unlike pedantry, which denotes a general obsession with formal rules, or archaism, which resurrects the obsolete, inkhornism is a specific, forward-looking pretension: the deliberate importation or coining of cumbersome novelty to parade one's learning. It is the gleam of a freshly polished Latinate term in a plain English sentence, the hollow echo of a polysyllabic utterance where a simple one would do, and the sound of a scholar clearing his throat before saying 'obfuscate' when 'confuse' would suffice—a vanity that mistakes obscurity for profundity and erudition untempered by clarity for social aggression.
Etymology
From inkhorn + -ism.
noun
- Pedantry; a preference for inkhorn terms.“But the virus of unrestrained inkhornism lurks today, ready to damage the prose of writers who think there are no words in the language sufficiently refined to communicate their ideas and who believe that long, impressive-sounding words must represent impressive ideas.”
- An inkhorn term.“Mr. Will, whose inkhornisms remain a weekly treat, has had tough words for former White Housers who write tell-all books, so the younger George had better watch his tongue.”