Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Difference between revisions

* 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.

'''Leeron:''' ''(makes a heart shape with his fingers)'' [[Layman's Terms|Love makes the world go 'round!]] [[Say It with Hearts|<3]]<br />

"Oh!" "Of course!" }}

* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' pretty much anyone in the technical division at NERV does this, Dr. Akagi being the worst offender. "General Purpose Humanoid Decisive Weapon Evangelion" indeed...

* ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'''s Izzy tends to fall into this sometimes when he plays [[Mr. Exposition]], further solidifying his place as [[The Smart Guy]].

* ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'''s Kyon often falls into this during his narration.

** 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.

** It's a bit of a running gag that Reed is all too often explaining what a certain [[MacGuffin|plot-relevant piece of machinery]] does rather than actually putting it to use, which causes The Thing endless annoyance, since he's the one doing the heavy lifting when they could be done by now.

** Memorably [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in [[Secret Wars]] just after the heroes were teleported into deep space by the Beyonder's machines. (Note: At the time of Secret Wars, Captain Marvel was the Monica Rambeau version, Iron Man was [[War Machine (Comic Book)|James Rhodes]] instead of Tony Stark, and the Hulk had Bruce Banner's mind.)

'''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Mr. Fantastic]]:''' This much I can tell you, Captain Marvel--This device apparently caused sub-atomic particle disassociation, reducing us, as we entered, to proto-matter, which it stored until it teleported us here, to preset coordinates in space, where it reassembled us inside a self-generated life-support environment!<br />

'''[[Incredible Hulk|Hulk]]:''' That's obvious Richards!<br />

* Doctor Henry McCoy (a.k.a. Beast of the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'') does this all the time. In most incarnations, it's for the joy of wordplay -- everyone he works with already knows he's a genius -- though it undoubtedly has a side effect of convincing people he's never met before that [[Genius Bruiser|even mutants who look like him can possess an enormous vocabulary]].

** And he does it with insults too; "go suck eggs" becomes:

** On the magic side of the MU coin, We have [[Doctor Strange]]. Granted, half the words he uses ARE made-up, but it's still fun trying to try and follow him through a convoluted explanation of his spellwork.

** The ''X-Men Noir'' version of the Beast, while genuinely intelligent (but not to the exaggerated levels of the normal one), goes out of his way to use larger words that he doesn't quite understand because it gives him a stronger air of intelligence.

== Non-canonical material created by enthusiasts of particular media (Fanfic) ==

* 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.

* Gohan in ''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]'' delves into this occasionally. Piccolo usually responds with "NEEEEEEEEEERD!!" (The irony there is that in the original, Piccolo was the one with a tendency towards pompous speech patterns.)

* In one of Katieforsythe's [[Sherlock Holmes]] fanfictions Watson actually uses the word sesquipedalian to describe Holmes.

== Animated feature-length theatrical releases (Film - Animated) ==

* Mr. Ray from ''[[Finding Nemo]]'': "Optical orbits up front. And remember, we keep our supraesophageal ganglion to ourselves. That means you, Jimmy."

* Wordy villain Cat R. Waul in ''[[An American Tail]]: Fievel Goes West'' is often wont to spit out long lines of English loquaciousness, and is often forced to describe his intent in simpler terms. He's voiced by [[John Cleese]]. Coincidence?... No.

 

== Non-animated feature-length theatrical releases (Film - Live Action) ==

* The quote at the top is from ''[[Con Air]]'', somewhat turned around to fit the description of the trope. It was spoken by Marshal agent Vince Larkin, an obvious poster boy for the trope, to DEA agent Malloy.

'''Larkin''': "Thesaurus Boy", I think, is more appropriate. }}

* Waldo of ''Our Gang'' (a.k.a. ''[[The Little Rascals]]'').

* A [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]''.

** Not to mention "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request... means 'No'."

* The Architect in ''[[The Matrix]]''.

** Parodied so [[Your Mileage May Vary|brilliantly]] by Will Ferrell in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x82rX-TGIBU this video] from the MTV Movie Awards.

* The villain Heady Lamarr (That's Headley!) from ''[[Blazing Saddles]]''.

'''Taggart:''' Goldarn it, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a $20 whore. }}

* One of the trademarks of [[Marx Brothers|Groucho Marx]] was fast [[Deadpan Snarker|deadpan]] [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]].

* Johann Krauss from ''[[Hellboy II]]: The Golden Army''.

'''Krauss:''' Ze central ganglion... Shoot it in ze head! }}

* [[Meaningful Name|Ulysses]] Everett McGill speaks almost entirely like this in ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]?'', as does villain [[Eyepatch of Power|"Big Dan" Teague]].

** At least in McGill's case, it's inverted in that the story makes it patently obvious that Everett is using the big words because he's ''trying'' to sound smarter, and because he ''does'' think he's smarter than his two less-inclined companions.

* V of ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' introduces himself like this, complete with [[Added Alliterative Appeal|oodles of alliteration.]] He calms down eventually, but still speaks very intelligently. It's pretty epic, and implies that somebody pillaged a thesaurus a few times, [[Captain Obvious|specifically,]] the sections of a thesaurus between the letters "U" and "W".

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

* Hermione Granger in ''[[Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire]]''. One of the many reasons why the script was so awful is that it appears when writing Hermione's lines, they wrote them out normally before getting out a thesaurus and changing all the words to make her sound smart. Examples include "Viktor's more of a physical being. I mean, he's not particularly loquacious"; "Again obvious though potentially problematic". This isn't present in the other films though.

* 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.

'''Susan Calvin:''' Not really. No. }}

* In ''[[Necessary Roughness (film)|Necessary Roughness]]'' the coach is laid out with chest pains. He asks his doctor what he has:

'''Doctor''': Indigestion? Only in Mexico. }}

* Recommended to Jake in the beginning of ''[[Avatar]]''. Met with limited success.

** This trope possibly led to the downfall of [[The Smart Guy|Dr. Grace]] when attempting to explain to [[Money, Dear Boy|Selfridge]]. If she had said that that Tree of Voices was basically a sentient graveyard containing the entire ancestry of the Na'vi, and that there were billions of dollars in patents to be had in a single plant, '''''maybe''''' Selfridge '''''might''''' have listened. Instead she spoke in techno-babble about neurons, exponents, and spirits. None of which Selfridge considered "real."

* Egon Spengler from ''[[Ghostbusters]]''.

'''Egon:''' [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|I think they're more interested in my epididymis.]]<br />

'''Pete Venkman:''' ... }}

* Doctor Emmet Brown from ''[[Back to The Future]]'' does this occasionally, though not as often (or as badly) as his counterpart from the animated series (see below).

* The sleazy, pseudo-intellectual wannabe [[Southern-Fried Genius]] crook played by [[Tom Hanks]] in the [[Coen Brothers]] version of ''[[The Lady Killers]]''.

* The [[Coneheads]]' speech is a heavy mixture of this and [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp]].

== Print and written media (Literature) ==

* In ''[[Spider-Man]]: The Darkest Hours'', Doctor Strange uses the longest words possible, much to Spidey's annoyance.

'''Spider-Man''': Really, you could have just said "Yes, they're old", and it would have been enough. }}

* Meta-fictional example: In ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'', Georgina's books are only written in this type of prose. Actually one of the characters think it's less difficult to say "hum" when an unusual word shows up rather than looking it up, with surprisingly good results. Made even weirder by the fact Georgina always speaks in a normal manner.

* In the ''[[Enchanted Forest Chronicles]]'', the nerdy magician Telemain always talks like this, with Morwen usually having to translate for him. However, when he is glared at hungrily by Kazul, a sentient dragon, he manages to speak normally, albeit very very slowly.

** Also used in ''Dealing with Dragons'' of the same series, in regards to a book on the Caves of Fire and Night. At the end, Morwen says something about how the magic had worked, and Cimorene exclaims, "Just the way that impossible book says!" and Morwen responds, "Demontmorency? Yes, I suppose he is fairly impossible."

* Ax gets into this on ''[[Animorphs]]'', on account of being an alien.

* Walter "Ramses" Emerson in Elizabeth Peters' ''[[Amelia Peabody]]'' series tends to embody this trope through his younger years, though he (mostly) grows out of it by around age 20, as stated by Amelia in "Guardian of the Horizon". Amelia herself could actually fit this trope in many regards, although it may be more her old-fashioned manner of narration than excessive verbosity.

* In [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''The Elephant's Child'' (or at least, the audio version read by Jack Nicholson and music by Bobby McFerrin), the bi-colored python rock snake always talks like this, for that is how bi-colored python rock snakes always talk, O Best Beloved.

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

* ''[[The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay]]'' sometimes lapsed into this.

* 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.

* Anything written by [[China Mieville]], although ''[[Literature/King Rat|King Rat]]'' was much less verbose than the [[Bas-Lag Cycle|Bas Lag]] novels.

* From ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' by [[H.P. Lovecraft]].

** Legend, at least, has it that he once got stuck with nothing to read but a(n abridged) copy of the [[Oxford English Dictionary]]...

** At least this one had the excuse that it was supposed to be the recollection of a scientist printed in an attempt to prevent further exploration of Antarctica -- many scientists in real life tend to go for complicated expression even when they wouldn't need to, in subconscious belief that it'll give a more intelligent impression. Universities often try to discourage this, but with limited success.

** Then there's ''Mordant's Need'', a more "realistic" work than the Covenant series in almost every way... except the swearing. (When the local equivalent of a wizard snaps "Excrement of a pig!" he might just be pretentious, but when a couple of [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|rough private soldiers]] express their frustration by yelling "Fornication!" it's deeply jarring.)

* ''[[Redwall]]'''s hares and more [[Wicked Cultured]] villains occasionally drop into this. "So what happens when the bally precipitation ceases?" ''(blank stares)'' "Sorry, I mean what happens when the rain stops?" And another time:

"Why should he when he knows how to say words like arboreal verdance?" }}

* In one of [[Anthony Burgess]]'s short stories, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson are discussing the new King James version of the Bible. Jonson mentions that the initial choice for translator thought Genesis should begin with "In the initiality of the mundane entity the Omnicompetent fabricated the celestial and terrene quiddities."

* [[George Orwell]] once took this one passage from the Bible:

::And rewrote it like this...:

::The entire thing can also be translated to mean "Success is random.":

** Loquacious Bible? Try [http://everything2.com/title/A%2520Liberal%2520Translation%2520of%2520the%2520New%2520Testament this]. To my knowledge, the Old Testament did not get this treatment from the same author, thank Whomever.

** Here's the NIV translation:

but time and chance happen to them all.'' }}

** Hell, on the subject of Orwell, the entire essay [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm Politics and the English Language] is a tract against sesquipedalian loquaciousness.

* Jupiter Jones, of ''[[The Three Investigators]]'', employs this method of verbal communication habitually, although not necessarily invariably.

* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Double Star]]'', the protagonist calls out this tendency as bad speechwriting.

* [[P. G. Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]]'s [[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves]] sometimes ends up talking like this, to the confusion and distress of everyone in the room. Despite being an [[Upperclass Twit]], his employer Bertie Wooster has picked up enough of a vocabulary from constant association with him to serve as his [[Translator Buddy]], and notes that this trope can be [[Got Me Doing It|catching]].

* Use to the point of tediousness in the [[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]] series, where the narrator describes everything to death, repeats the description using synonyms, and never gets to the point without [[Viewers Are Goldfish|referring all over again to the things she's already described.]]

* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''A Daughter of the Land'', Agatha.

 

 

* Harry Morton on ''[[The Burns and Allen Show]]'', almost always lampshaded by [[George Burns]].

* Speech like this is the key joke in many ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' sketches. John Cleese is known to use this in other roles he has held since.

** In the "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3KBuQHHKx0 Cheese Shop]" sketch, the customer alternates between Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness and slangy Cockney speech.

* And speaking of John Cleese, in the ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' episode, ''The Hotel Inspectors,'' he finds himself having to contend with a guest whose use of flowery, overcomplicated language renders him nearly incomprehensible. Representative quote:

'''Basil''': Are you all right? }}

** In "Communication Problems", Polly gets rid of the pushy, selectively deaf Mrs. Richards by asking Manuel to "lend her your assistance in connection with her reservation", knowing that Manuel won't understand.

* The Sixth Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' took this to ridiculous lengths -- and in Pip & Jane Baker scripts, most ''other'' characters would start talking like this as well.

'''Peri:''' Or, as we humans say, "Lucky would be a better word." }}

** Pip and Jane Baker were really fond of the phrase "fortuitous would be a more apposite epithet". The Master uses it in "Mark of the Rani" as well. Of course, the Master, especially as played by Anthony Ainley, was always prone to thesaurus abuse.

** The Sixth Doctor's talent for sounding like he swallowed a thesaurus and [[Large Ham|a full meal of cured pork haunch]] shows up a lot in the [[Big Finish]] audio dramas.

*** "Here we go, another voyage around the English language!"

*** [[Tropes Are Not Bad|Raised to an art form]] with the audio drama ''...ish''.

* Sir Humphrey Appleby in ''[[Yes Minister]]'' / ''Yes Prime Minister'' speaks in an overly long and complex fashion in order to flummox his political masters and thus maintain the Civil Service status quo -- however, he's so used to speaking in such a fashion that he's incapable of speaking clearly even when he genuinely wants to make himself clearly understood.

** Not so much ''incapable'' as very, very reluctant. A short answer could generally be dragged out of him and usually formed the punchline to a joke. For instance, here's how Humphrey confesses his sins:

'''Sir Humphrey Appleby:''' It was... I. }}

** One time, Humphrey also stops speaking this way [[OOC Is Serious Business|to show that he is dead serious]], telling an absolutely, unbendably resolute Hacker, dead-set on a course of action that will help absolutely no-one, that "if you insist on doing this damn silly thing, don't do it in this damn silly way."

** In the ''Hacker Diaries'', the fictional diaries of Jim Hacker and novelization of the ''[[Yes Minister]]'' series, it is stated that he lived out the last of his days in a home for the elderly deranged when "advancing years, [[Talkative Loon|without in any way impairing his verbal fluency, disengaged the operation of his mind from the content of his speech]]."

* In ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', the group have a conversation about Robin's new Argentinian boyfriend who can't speak English that well. When he arrives at the bar, they continue the conversation, but with longer words so he doesn't understand (he doesn't: he thinks they're talking about baseball). Funny, because their responses weren't all that different from before:

'''Ted:''' I'm just jubilant my former paramour's jubilant. }}

** The part of the conversation right before this, that is Robin explaining that she still likes Gael, includes the lines:

'''Robin:''' My journey was transformative and I reassert my commitment to both the aforementioned paramour and the philosophies he espouses. }}

** In reality, this isn't a very good plan, since longer words are more often cognates for close languages like English and Spanish.

** Ted talks like this all the time, especially during the college flashbacks, because he is -- in the other characters' own words -- douchy like that. And his on-again/off-again high school/college girlfriend, Karen, talks like this all the time too.

** Also in ''Old King Clancy'' while talking about GNB's firing room, the ETR, or Employee Transition Room:

*** And later:

'''Barney:''' That's my boy! }}

* Billy on the original ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' spoke like this; every time he said anything, everyone looked expectantly at Trini until she translated. However, when the situation became truly dire, he sometimes lapsed into regular speech; whether this meant he used big words to show off intelligence or the show had bad writers was never explained. This tended to get phased out as the seasons went on, as if his hanging out with the other teens helped him pick up their speech habits (or possibly because Trini had left). Ironically, most people watching the show on TV could understand him fine, or at least guess the intent of his statements by context. It's only in-universe that anybody that's <s>not Trini</s> not equally as intelligent as him is left utterly confused.

* Data from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' occasionally did this, particularly when attempting humor or referring to an idiomatic expression. For Example: "I could be pursuing an untamed ornithoid without cause." (wild goose chase).

* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Friends]]'' when Joey uses a thesaurus on every single word of a letter he's writing in an attempt to sound intelligent.

'''Chandler:''' And that became, "They're humid, pre-possessing homosapiens with full-sized aortic pumps?" }}

** [[No Kill Like Overkill|He even replaced]] ''[[No Kill Like Overkill|his own name]]'' [[No Kill Like Overkill|with "baby kangaroo."]]

** Brennan once agreed with someone by saying, "I concur. Vehemently!"

** And then there's this exchange from "The Titan on the Tracks":

'''Booth''': Oh, like a jar. Why can't we just say "a jar"? }}

** Dr. Gordon Gordon Wyatt does this too, possibly becuase he's played by [[Stephen Fry]]

* Major Dr. Samantha Carter and, to a lesser degree, Dr. Daniel Jackson were often guilty of this on ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''.

** Also Teal'c:

'''Teal'c:''' Undomesticated equines could not remove me. ''(although he was joking that time)'' }}

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Gibbs gets annoyed]] just about every single time it happens on ''[[NCIS]]''. Ducky justified one instance by saying he ''likes'' the word "exsanguinate".

* Used frequently on ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]''. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3515_x8R9c This sketch] is a good example, as its use of gratuitous linguistics turns what would otherwise have been an unremarkable barber shop sketch into several minutes of hysterical laughter.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[The West Wing]]'' by the President, who says:

* Spinelli on ''[[General Hospital]]'', though this seems to be because he's a [[The Rainman|Rain Man]].

* Judge Joe Brown often uses this trope, apparently in an attempt to try to add some class to his "folksy" image (and possibly to intimidate the clueless people who come on his show), but instead he usually ends up coming across as pompous.

* [[Russell Brand]] would also use this trope frequently. Made all the more visible by that he'd only really be doing it to make a [[Nob Gag]]. On a show about [[Big Brother]].

* Rhonda from the [[Direct to Video]] special ''Psalty's Salvation Celebration'' is like this in her first scene, sounding like she stuck her dialogue into an internet thesaurus translator. Thankfully, this is toned down in all her following scenes.

* EB Farnum in ''[[Deadwood]]'' is a blighter for this. In almost every episode, Al has to reprimand him for either using a gillion words to say three, or more often, for repeating Al's short, to the point statement with new, longer words.

* In one episode of ''[[My Family]]'', Abi applies for a job in a library and memorises an entire dictionary to help her prepare for the interview. She doesn't get the job because the interviewer doesn't understand a word she's trying to say.

* ''[[Married... with Children|Married With Children]]'': Kelly Bundy manages to bust out some big words for such a "bombastic simpleton". She doesn't always use the right words, but sometimes she's spot-on.

* ''Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'' used this trope at times, especially in the earlier episodes. Often [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by having Buck be increasingly irritated at having to stop and figure out the "simplistic" 20th-century equivalent for whatever the other characters are talking about.

'''Buck''': "A delocking disk..." (Blank look for a moment.) "Oh, you mean a ''key.''" (takes the disc from the guardr, grumbling under his breath) "Why do you people in the future have to make everything so complicated?" }}

* In the ''[[Just Cause (TV series)|Just Cause]]'' episode "The Last to Know," when Peggy tells Ted that her car was towed, he replies:

** Note that Ted rollerblades everywhere. Even indoors.

* Wanda in ''[[Corner Gas]]'' is prone to this.

'''Wanda:''' You mean intimidated by my vocabulary? }}

** See also her chant when she goes on strike in "Get the F Off My Lawn":

'''Brent:''' Wow, you do a lot of [[Crossword Puzzle|crosswords]], huh? }}

* Pops up on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' from time to time, with requests for a translation from 'Giles-speak'.

== Lyrical and instrumental arranged works (Music And Sound) ==

* Emplaced here is a somewhat superfluous version of the especially popular lyrical work "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". The original rendering of this work was specifically composed for an infantile audience. The following version is for those amongst us who find the urge to utilize the aforementioned trope irresistable, even while making an attempt to lull a young insomniac into a recuperative state.

Fain would I fathom thy nature specific.'' }}

** Similarly, Three Blind Mice:

As a triune entity of myopic rodentia?'' }}

* In the Fats Waller song "Your Feet's Too Big", Waller liberally uses long, erudite words during the song, such as "Your pedal extremities really are obnoxious."

* [[Tim Minchin]]. It doesn't matter if he's currently singing about "[[Cluster F-Bomb|the motherfucking]] [[Acceptable Targets|pope]]", he'll still squeeze in some very eloquent words.

* Joanna Newsom often plays this straight, because a lot of her songs are fairy tales. They also tend to be long. And gorgeous. Example:

* [[The Decemberists]], anyone? Give [http://youtu.be/sYwkmPKsctQ Red Right Ankle a listen.] "Oh, adhere to me / for we are bound by symmetry."

* Simon Bookish, from his stage name on up, is a perfect example of this. Just listen to his song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK38qy2-jH0 Carbon].

== Electronic gaming media (Video Games) ==

* The Engineer in ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' frequently switches between this (when he's explaining his constructs or means of defending himself) and a comparatively more simple way of speaking.

* One character encountered early in ''[[Baldur's Gate]] II: Throne of Bhaal'' speaks like this, and uses it as evidence that he is more intelligent than everyone around him. If your own character has a high enough Intelligence score, you can insinuate (in a similarly roundabout, verbose way) that you think he does so to make up for a rather private "deficiency" on his part.

** Edwin too, IS this trope.

'''Protagonist:''' ... Uh, what? }}

* Taken to ridiculous extremes in the fan-made ''[[Phylomortis]]'' [[Game Maker|RPG Maker]] games where ''every single character'' spoke in nothing but big words... including children no older than six years old. Even the [[He Knows About Timed Hits|in-game tutorials]] abused this. That, coupled with their [[Nintendo Hard|Nintendo Hardness]] made the series inaccessible to all but the most dedicated gamers. The sole gimmick of the game was its ridiculous standard of vocabulary, however, so it's safe to say that its target audience (however small) was indeed captured.

** Not just the characters. Most of the menu commands and system dialogue, too. Most games would be content with ending a battle with "Victory!" or "You won the battle!" ''Phylomortis'' capped it off with "You mercilessly slew the obnoxious foe..."

* Sam of ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police|Sam & Max]]'', a six-foot canine shamus, tends to express himself in this general manner. Said manner tends to annoy his partner. Perhaps his most elegant wordsmithing takes place in this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp94UERknaw promo]. Sam occasionally demonstrates that he is [[Sophisticated As Hell]].

* Valve's Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator (Gravity Gun) from ''[[Half-Life]] 2'', and Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (Portal Gun) from ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'', as well as many of the utterances of the Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System from the latter title. The latter partially comes from the Aperture Science folk wanting to stick their name in front of everything (Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill, Aperture Science High-Energy Pellet, Aperture Science Vital Apparatus Vent, etc).

** Dr. Kleiner is likewise rather prone to communicating in this manner, especially when the nature of his audience makes it inappropriate.

'''Alyx:''' Is Dr. Kleiner actually telling everyone to... get busy? }}

* Luke Atmey from ''Phoenix Wright: [[Ace Attorney]] -- Trials and Tribulations'' combines this with a flair for descriptions that are over-dramatic to the point of obtuseness. Phoenix can usually only manage a rough translation, usually for the benefit of Maya, who is more often totally lost.

** Wesley Stickler and his penchant for using twenty words to say what that can be said in five deserves a mention too.

* Lord Rugdumph gro-Shurgak in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]:'' ''Oblivion'' is a victim of this as well, although he never gets it right:

* Dmitri Petrovich and Stephanie Morgan from ''[[Backyard Sports]]'' definitely fit this trope.

* Volteer from ''[[Spyro the Dragon|The Legend of Spyro]]'' talks like this, often to the annoyance of the other Dragon Guardians and Sparx, though Spyro somehow has no problem understanding him. Example:

'''Sparx:''' Why didn't he just say so? }}

** another one from Volteer:

'''Spyro:''' He says he doesn't know what he's talking about. }}

** Bentley from the original series did this. Or at least, the one from ''Spyro 3'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SPzJ9dGtgc#t=02m16s did].

* Due to her immensely dry dialogue, Shelke from ''[[Final Fantasy]] 7: Dirge of Cerberus'' has been classified as this by fanon.

* [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|Dr. Ludger Brink]] does this in ''[[The Dig]]'' to distract an alien monster from eating colleague Maggie Robbins (to no real purpose, as it cannot possibly understand English in any form). In fact, it almost backfires, as the big words prove ''equally'' distracting to player-character Boston Low. When Brink urges Low to hurry up with the rescue, he just mutters, "I'm still trying to figure out what you said."

'''Brink:''' Low, you idiot! Why are you standing there? }}

* Generation V of ''[[Pokémon]]'' gives us [[Perky Goth|Shauntal]] of the Elite Four, who talks like this until you beat her, at which point she simply proclaims you "awesome!". She reverts right back to her normal, diffuse speech right afterwords, though. Apparently she's a writer.

* In ''[[Fire Emblem]] 9'' and ''10'', Bastian is often known for this, and contrasted with Geoffery who often verbally plays [[The Stoic]].

* Ishi tends to do this in ''[[Bulletstorm]]''. His partner... doesn't.

Hunt: "Shoot the tanks, that's all you gotta say!" *BOOM* }}

* The Protoss from ''[[Starcraft]]'' have a habit of doing this sometimes, especially Judicator Aldaris.

* Near the end of ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]] Chapter 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood'', when Guybrush asks De Singe what he's doing with the Vaycaylian Wind Control Device ({{spoiler|before attempting to toss [[MacGuffin|La Esponja Grande]] into the device}}), De Singe replies, "You see, using my handbuilt Harpsichronitron, in conjunction with my Oscimoligrophiscope to seek out a resonant frequency with the Vaycaylian Climatiphone, I hope to anatomize living tissue on a macroscopic basis!" Guybrush, however, becomes clueless and can ask De Singe to repeat with the purposes of all this machinery, and De Singe can translate that he's using the piano device ("this machine") to make the Wind Control Device ("that machine") "smash people into a fine powder," which, of course, causes Guybrush to say, "[[And That's Terrible|Hey, that's not very nice]]!"

** Also, in "Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay", Guybrush has another meaning to "You suck!":

* Mr. Featherly, the Shakespearean-trained thespian rooster in ''[[Sam and Max]]''.

* Lex the bookworm in ''[[Bookworm Adventures]]'' often speaks like this; this is, in fact, the whole point of the game, as the longer words you spell, the more damage you inflict on your enemies. There's also the game's finale, where Lex {{spoiler|actually uses a slightly shorter version of one of the words mentioned in the trope description to deliver the final blow}}. See [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7i1VW_UK8Q here] (major spoiler warning!).

* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'', the hyper-intelligent fuzzy monster Molly peppers her speech with big, obscure, or antiquarian words -- but she is equally likely to use teenage slang or kindergarten kiddie-speak. Galatea makes observation of her sister's odd speech patterns [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080920.html here.]

* Rocky, of ''[[Lackadaisy Cats]]'', the majority of the time.

'''Avril:''' ARRAAWRGH! ''(slams Rocky against a wall and throws him to the ground)'' }}

** This becomes even more noticeable when he's around Freckle, who rarely says more than a couple words at a time.

* Massey Reinstein in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' uses this trope to intimidate [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath|Schlock]] in one strip. [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20080824.html It works].

'''Schlock:''' ''(close to tears)'' Massey beat me up with big words. }}

** Equally fun is a few strips earlier, when Ebbirnoth describes having had his [[Bizarre Alien Biology|only (grapefruit-sized) eye]] shot off, and the effects of the drug cocktail he was given to keep the pain under control.

* In ''[[Bob and George]]'', there's an '''entire''' alternate universe consisting out of people who only talk like this. Sure, they can dumb themselves down to communicate with the lessers, but when at one point there's a present, a future and a far future version of two characters there's only Sesquipadalian dialogue.

* Kin, the yuan-ti from ''[[Goblins]]'' lapses into this when she's stressed.

* ''[[Nature of Nature's Art]]'' has almost every important character talk this way, thanks in large part to the very nature of the web comic, though it's eased up in the latter portions of the latest story.

* Rose Lalonde from ''[[Homestuck]]''. She wrote a game FAQ entirely using this and [[Purple Prose]], just for one example.

* ''[[Suicide for Hire]]'''s characters all use long words, and a lot of 'em. The comic's banner has a caption reading "Yeah, it's got dialogue. If you don't like it, you are entitled to bite my ass."

* ''[[Fetch Quest Saga of the Twelve Artifacts]]''' Felicia tends to use big words when she talks, which is perfectly fine for her, but awkward for others. Ambrosia [[Lampshade Hanging|calls her out]] on this practice:

* ''[[Exterminatus Now]]''. Professor Lewis [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20100613.html tries to explain] a concept to the (somewhat pro)tagonists, and fails utterly. Finally, he went in the ''exact opposite'' direction, and summed it up:

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', Grace's attempt to make a bit of a political statement in the sketchbook resulted in a bad case of [http://egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2010-12-09 this trope.]

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4269 Fucshia teases Crimney about using "troglodyte."]

** [[wikipedia:Nocturnal penile tumescence|This]] [[Wikipedia]] article is about men having erections in their sleep. Sort of justified in that the author would take great pains not to sound vulgar.

** Here's what Wikipedia has to say about [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tetrodotoxin&oldid=441947764#Symptoms_and_treatment the effects of tetrodotoxin], the poison found in pufferfish:

:::This is pretty typical for articles dealing with the symptoms of various toxins. At least they're (usually) courteous enough to [[Pothole]] the more arcane words so you can just click them and say to yourself "oh, is that all that means?"

** [[wikipedia:Maternal insult|Has anyone googled the Wikipedia explanation for "Yo Mom" jokes before?]]

== Animated media originating in the various nations of the Occident (Western Animation) ==

* [[Evil Genius]] Plankton has a habit of speaking this way in ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]''. His speaking this way in trying to recruit [[Mooks]] in a [[Bad Guy Bar]] doesn't end well for him.

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

** [[The Ditz|Patrick]], surprisingly, talks this way several times, just not to the point seen above.

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

* Dexter on ''[[Dexter's Laboratory|Dexters Laboratory]]'' is fond of doing this. Notable examples include making a to-do list that included the chore "Aquatic Nutrifacation" instead of "Feed Fish". He also refers to the wheels on a car as "High Output Torquifiers".

** 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.

'''Eddy:''' Scam Kevin. ...That's what he ''said,'' right? }}

* 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.

* One episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' has Homer start talking like this after a [[Sleep Learning]] tape intended to curb his hunger is switched with a vocabulary builder. "Lamentably, no. My gastronomic rapacity knows no satiety."

** Later played with, when Homer loses his vocabulary without regaining his ability to communicate succinctly.

'''Marge:''' You mean, a spoon? }}

** Some of the more intellectually inclined Springfield residents (Sideshow Bob, Professor Frink) occasionally indulge in this. And then there's Mr. Burns and his [[Antiquated Linguistics]].

*** Being the aesthete that he is, Sideshow Bob however rejected the sesquipedalian but inelegant "disembowel" in favour of a much shorter word when he wrote down what to do with Bart in ''Cape Feare'':

* One episode of ''[[Word Girl]]'' involves a villain using [[Applied Phlebotinum]] to cause random people to use large words in order to sell dictionaries.

* Doctor Octopus in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', especially post-[[Freak-Out]]. "I cannot believe I once lived in this anemic hovel."

*** [[Transformers Shattered Glass|I, Grimlock, also speak in this manner in the mirror universe.]]

** Highbrow is also guilty of this, in "The Rebirth".

'''Hardhead:''' Yeah, me too, like he said. }}

** Oddly enough, Brainstorm, who was the actual [[Smart Guy]] of the team, spoke fairly commonly unless he actually needed the jargon.

* The writers for ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' sometimes had a fondness for big words. Mid-1940s, Daffy was quite fond of this. He once asked a crying dog, "Why the copious flow of lachrymal fluid, my garrulous canine?"

* 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:

* In ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' episode "[http://www.rowdyruff.net/transcript_ml.shtml Mo'Linguish]", Mojo Jojo teaches the whole town to speak like he does. The simple, straightforward word is intentionally neglected in favor of over-eloquence. Example from the Mayor, calling about a bank robbery:

* 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".

* Spoofed in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Woodland Critter Christmas", where Mousey the Mouse is a parody of the stock "Smart" character in cartoons, complete with comically large glasses and a slavish adherence to this trope.

* Same thing goes for Brain on ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]''. In fact, it's shown that his parents keep a large dictionary at the dinner table because of it.

* Don Karnage, the leader of the Air Pirates in Disney's''[[Tale Spin]]'', does this a lot.

'''Don Karnage:''' RUN AWAY!! }}

* Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown, a.k.a. The Doc, as portrayed in the ''[[Back to The Future (cartoon)|Back to The Future]]'' animated series, is the '''king''' of this. The movie version, while prone to [[Techno Babble]], isn't nearly as bad. Jules is also a master at it.

* ''[[Futurama]]'': Good old Professor Farnsworth can have this affect when he actually is making sense

'''Farnsworth:''' Correct! This box contains our own universe! }}

* Mr. Longface Caterpillar from the 2009 ''[[Strawberry Shortcake]]'' movie peppers his speech with overly fancy words, which are [[Layman's Terms|translated]] by Blueberry Muffin. This is [[Inverted Trope|inverted]] at one point when he mentions fool's gold, and Blueberry "translates" this to its official name, iron pyrite.

** The Brain does this constantly, even going so far as to rephrase common expressions with more advanced vocabulary ("The game does not conclude until the woman with the eating disorder ululates.")

* Egon Spengler's penchant for this in ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' and ''[[Extreme Ghostbusters]]'' is turned [[Up to Eleven]] from his movie counterpart.

* Tom in ''[[The Amazing Chan and The Chan Clan]]'' is practically ''defined'' by this trope, to the point where his siblings have commented more than once about how they wished he'd speak English. Also in "The Greek Caper", Tom was about to offer his suggestion on how to search for missing statue and was gently told by Alan to "keep it simple".

* Moonrock on ''[[The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show|The Pebbles and Bamm Bamm Show]]'' would always do this. When the team went looking for a four-leaf clover to improve Schleprock's bad luck, he exclaimed, "Eureka! A Marsilea quadrifolia!"

** Ben's Brainstorm form does this often.

* 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.

* ''[[Hey Arnold]]'' had Mr. Green run for city councilman against Councilman Gladhand, one of whom's tactics was using big words. Mr. Green even worried he couldn't win the election because he thought he couldn't sound as smart. {{spoiler|He does win.}}

 

** Dave Barry mentioned this in one column, when he went to the doctor because his tongue was swollen. The doc called it something in Latin which Dave claims to have later looked up that meant "swollen tongue".

** The best: "idiopathic". Which means "we don't know why it's doing that stuff".

** Then there's "iatrogenic", an adjective for diseases '''caused''' by medical treatment.

** And don't forget "nosocomial", meaning that nasty bug you got from the hospital.

* The nonfictional portion of ''The Science of [[Discworld]]'' points out that without the use of "privitives" in language -- terms for the absence of things, such as "dark" (no light), "cold" (lack of heat), or "sober" (a state of non-intoxication) -- everyone would ''have'' to talk like this.

* Jeremy Bentham, the founder of Utilitarianism, never used one short word when he could use a dozen long ones. Here's his attempt to sum up the philosophy in one sentence:

** In other words, a Utilitarian should try to produce as much happiness in the world as he can.

* [[Russell Brand]] has made a veritable art-form out of blending [[Sophisticated As Hell|prolixity and profanity]]. Garrulously, he will pontificate, sermonize, and evangelize, interminably vociferating fustian rhetoric - and all for the sake of a [[Nob Gag]].