Word of the day...and a half

sesquipedalian - ah, the illustration of irony. The definition: someone who uses long words.


http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sesquipedalian


I particularly appreciate the origin. From a word etymology site, Etymonline.com:

1615, from L. sesquipedalia verba "words a foot-and-a-half long," in
Horace's "Ars Poetica" (97), nicely illustrating the thing he is criticizing,
from sesqui- "half as much again" (see sesquicentennial)
+ pes "foot" (see foot)