Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Difference between revisions

 

The polar opposite of [[Buffy-Speak]]. [[Big Words]] redirects here, for those of us who prefer to avert this trope in [[Real Life]]. Contrast the [[Laconic]]. Also note that the similarity to [[Techno Babble]]. May require one to have a [[Translator Buddy]].

 

* Episode 22 of Azumanga Daioh does this is the English Dub. In the Japanese version, it's just [[Gratuitous English]].

* Leeron in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' frequently does this after the [[Time Skip]], with "short versions" inevitably following after he loses his audience.

** Yuki will often provide one or two syllable answers to rather important questions, be prompted (usually by Kyon) into giving longer answers, and the longer answers end up in this incomparable form.

* Matsuki from ''[[Kunisaki Izumo no Jijou]]'' is prone to this with regards to school work.

 

== Occidental sequential graphic novels (Comic Books) ==

 

 

* Dennis in ''[[The Luck of Dennis St. Michel, Viscount Stokington|The Luck of Dennis St Michel Viscount Stokington]]'' does this a ''lot,'' even when [[Hypocritical Humor|decrying the same habit]] in his nemesis.

{{quote|"The ragged figure looming in the dusky storm-light bore little resemblance to the pompous young naif who delighted in using a type or kind of sesquipedalian loquaciousness to mock his foes. In truth, I had found his book-learning pretentious; I know a pretty word or two, but do not feel the need to flaunt them at every interval."}}

{{quote|'''V:''' Voilà ! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. [[Overly Long Gag|Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose]], so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

'''Evey Hammond:''' ... Are you like a crazy person? }}

* In ''[[The Last Boy Scout]]'', the two heroes are getting pummeled by an unusually verbose Mook's large companion, leading [[Deadpan Snarker|Bruce Willis's character]] to exclaim, "Shit, we're being beat up by the inventor of Scrabble!"

* Can't forget ''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]''. Dr. Calvin is very much like this in the beginning, though she sort of thaws out.

** He talks that way [http://www.online-literature.com/kipling/165/ in the book], too.

{{quote|'''Bi-coloured Python Rock Snake:''' Rash and inexperienced traveler, we will now seriously devote ourselves to a little high tension, because if we do not, it is my impression that yonder self-propelling man-of-war with the armor-plated upper deck ''(and by this, O Best Beloved, he meant the Crocodile)'' will permanently vitiate your future career.}}

* Christopher Paolini apparently feels the need to use a thesaurus at all times with the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'', sparking copious mixed opinions from readers. Some find his writing captivating and interesting, while others basically write it off as a load of crap. Either way, you can't argue that he follows this trope to the letter, and younger readers may want to keep a dictionary open while traversing his prose.

* In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Neverwhere]]'', Mr. Croup seems practically incapable of pronouncing any ''bon mot'' of less than polysyllabic length, much to the confusion of Mr. Vandemar. At one point he describes himself and Mr. Vandemar as having "funny clothes and convoluted circumlocutions", to which Mr Vandemar responds indignantly "I haven't got a circumlo..." Mr. Croup explains that the word means "a way of speaking around something. A digression. Verbosity."

* The Ultimate Warrior was also famous for this, interspersing feral snarling, grunting, and shouting with long, rambling promos peppered with million-dollar words used almost-correctly. In his later years, he even started throwing in words he made up out of whole cloth, apparently believing his character motivations to be too complex to explain in the English language as it stands. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA3bUTFNtY4 Case in point...]

* Bob Backlund's mid-'90s comeback [[Heel Turn]] was characterized by his speaking with words from the unabridged dictionary; notably, calling the fans "plebians".

* Brian Pillman used to engage in a bit of this. For example, un the promo where Chris Benoit was drafted into the Horsemen, Pillman ranted about how Sting "regaled [his] obsequious lapdogs with [his] reprehensible act."

* Gorilla Monsoon was fond of using obscure medical terminology in his play-by-play. A shot to the back of the head would be described as hitting "the external occipital protuberance," while a chair-shot to the back would be said to have damaged "the subscapularis area."

 

 

== Stage-acted media (Theater) ==

* ''[[Hamlet]]'' spoofs it with the character Osric, who desperately tries to look intelligent by talking this way. Hamlet mocks him by going even farther over the top with it. As you might imagine, a [[Shakespeare]] speech that's deliberately written to be obtuse and impenetrable is quite something to witness.

** Let's not forget Polonius and his love of speaking many words! "Brevity is the soul of wit," indeed.

* ''[[The Mikado]]'': Pooh-Bah "can trace [his] ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule."

** The [[Modern Major-General]] in ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'' does a bit of this too, though more on the loquacious side.

* Parodied to the extreme with Lucky's three page monologue in ''[[Waiting for Godot]]''. Read through it carefully and there is actually a philosophical point being made, but it is embroidered with so much verbal diaorreah, non-sequitors and just sheer nonsense words that it sounds like a complete load of gibberish.

* In one version of the ''[[Three Little Pigs]]'', the judge's page speaks this to a ridiculous extent.

{{quote|'''Plankton:''' Felicitations, malefactors! I am endeavoring to misappropriate the formulary for the preparation of affordable comestibles!}}

** WHO WILL JOIN HIM?!?!?!?!?

* Reggie Moonshroud from ''[[Gravedale High]]'' often talks like this.

* Wind Whistler on ''[[My Little Pony]]''. "This meteorological debabacle is quite anomalous." Peach Blossom too: "I will reconnoiter post-haste and ascertain what has transpired!"

** In the same vein, Twilight Sparkle from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''.

* Edd in ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'', often to the annoyance of his less-educated peers.

* Tish in ''[[The Weekenders]]''. It becomes a plot point of an episode where the others refer to it as "Tishing" and it becomes a widespread saying.

* As Brainstorm (a "sea food platter with a rather high IQ", as he puts it), [[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben]] is prone to using extremely large words. [[Fake Brit|With a British accent.]] His previous "smart form", Greymatter, tended to use words of a more normal size unless referring to scientific principles.

* In the 2003 ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series more than any other incarnation, Donatello is guilty of this. He frequently geeks out about future technology or the chemical properties of things he runs across, and [[Techno Babble]] ensues. One of the others (usually Michelangelo, but occasionally Raphael) [[Lampshade Hanging|acknowledges this]], and usually asks him to repeat himself in English this time. Though sometimes the writers sacrifice snappier dialogue to remind us that he's the smart one:

{{quote|'''Donatello:''' If we take the south conduit, it'll ''intersect'' with the old drainage tunnel!}}

{{quote|'''The Mayor:''' There is a stealing of sorts happening at the place where money is given and taken, that is to say deposited and withdrawn -- and sometimes redistributed and loaned. But currently the taker is taking that which is not his, thus performing an act of illegality, which could result in incarceration within the confines of a penal facility, that is to say prison, jail, hoosegow, et cetera.}}

* In an episode of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', Fireside Girl Gretchen ([[Meganekko|the one who wears glasses]]) earns her "Saying a Word No One Else in the Room Knows" accomplishment patch by actually saying the world "sesquipedalian".

* In the [[Rankin Bass]] special ''[[Twas the Night Before Christmas]]'', the Mayor parodies this. Whenever he wants to sound important, he attempts this, then gives up partway through.

{{quote|"Of all the perfidious purveyors of chicanery I have ever had the misfortune to... oh, heck. Go home!"}}

 

== Nonfictional depictions of the current recurring theme (Real Life) ==

* [[Richard Feynman]], in his memoirs, recalled attending a lecture in [[Hard on Soft Science|some social science or other]] wherein he encountered the following sentence: "The individual member of the social community often receives his information via visual, symbolic channels." {{spoiler|"Feynman "translated" this sentence as follows: "People read."}}

* The preface to ''The United States Department of Defense Fact File'' admonishes readers against this trope. See the [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness/Quotes|Quotes tab]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Children's Show Tropes]]

[[Category:Language Tropes]]

[[Category:This Trope Name References Itself]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]