Beware of Hellenomaniacs
Hellenomania - a madness for things Greek - and sometimes Roman too. This unfortunate condition most frequently crops up in the world of words.
Hellenomaniacs can't help themselves slotting in a long word of classical origin when a shorter, more familiar one will do just as well.
You'll know you're in the company of a Hellenomaniac when they use a word like 'felicitous' when 'apt' would do just as well. Or 'pellucid' when they mean 'clear' or 'subfusc' when gloomy woul do the job well.
Should you find yourself suffering from this condition, you run the risk of being accused of pretentiousness or 'rodomontade'.
Or you may just find people staring at you because they haven't a clue what you're talking about!
Read what Winnie the Pooh had to say about short words versus long words.
Did you think this piece of nonsense was fun? Plenty more where it came from.
You'll find them all filed under Flotsam and Jetsam.
