Why this word is great
LEXIPHANICISM — [Noun] The use of pretentious or bombastic words or language. From Lucian's *Lexiphanes* (a character known for bombastic speech), from Greek *lexis* ("word, speech") + *phainein* ("to show") + *-ism* (denoting a practice or ideology). Unlike *perissology* (which merely describes excessive wordiness) or *bombast* (which inflates without pretension to erudition), lexiphanicism is the deliberate deployment of obscure vocabulary as a kind of linguistic plumage. It is the academic who says "utilize" when "use" would suffice, the wine critic describing a bouquet as "quintessentially umami-laden," or the politician declaring a "paradigm shift" when he means a change—each a small act of vanity, mistaking complexity for depth. The tragedy is not that such words fail to communicate, but that they succeed all too well in communicating the wrong thing.