Why “pomposity” is a great word
POMPOSITY — [Noun] An affectedly grand, self-important, or pretentious manner. From Middle English pomposite ("solemnity"), from Medieval Latin pompositas, from Late Latin pomposus ("stately, pompous"), from Latin pompa ("pomp, procession"). First attested in the early 15th century. Unlike "grandeur," which suggests genuine splendor, or "verbosity," which denotes mere wordiness, pomposity is the sonorous, empty cadence of a civic speech, the studied flourish of a signature on a trivial memo, and the careful positioning of a meaningless award upon a shelf—the tragicomic spectacle of dignity confused with its own echo.