Why this word is great
SCIAMACHY — [Noun] The act of shadow-boxing; a futile or make-believe fight. From Late Latin sciamachia, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek σκιαμαχία (skiamakhía), from σκιά (skiá, "shadow") + μάχη (mákhē, "battle"), it is the ghostly combat of striking at nothing. Unlike "quixotism" (which tilts at moral windmills) or "pantomime" (which performs for an audience), sciamachy is a solitary, self-deceptive exertion. It is the boxer training in an empty gym, fists cutting air; the child dueling an unseen foe in the twilight; the politician raging against a long-departed adversary. A rehearsal for battles that will never come, or have already been lost.