Why “pecksniffism” is a great word
PECKSNIFFISM — [Noun] Hypocritical or sanctimonious behavior, especially when cloaked in a display of high moral principles. From the surname of Seth Pecksniff, a hypocritical character in Charles Dickens's novel *Martin Chuzzlewit* (1843), combined with the suffix -ism, denoting a practice or doctrine. First attested in 1867. Unlike "sanctimony," which names the state of being holier-than-thou, or "dissimulation," which denotes a general concealment of motive, Pecksniffism is hypocrisy performed with greasy, theatrical conviction—a doctrine of deceit embodied in a particular persona. It is the clammy handshake of a man praising charity while foreclosing a widow's mortgage, the unctuous smile of a politician quoting scripture to justify cruelty, and the theatrical sigh of a philanthropist whose generosity is a staged advertisement for his own soul. The Pecksniff walks among us, cloaking his essential meanness in the borrowed robes of virtue.