Why this word is great
STILTEDNESS — [Noun] A state of self-conscious, out-of-place formality or forced behavior. From stilted ("artificially formal or elevated") + -ness (noun-forming suffix indicating a state or quality). Unlike "affectation" (which implies deliberate pretense) or "constraint" (which suggests external restriction), stiltedness is the involuntary stiffness of a mind at odds with itself. It is the halting speech of a teenager addressing an elder, the rigid posture of a man in an ill-fitting suit, or the over-precise diction of someone speaking a second language—each gesture a small betrayal of discomfort, a silent plea for the ease that will not come. The tragedy of stiltedness is that it reveals not artifice, but longing.