Divertissement, not snobbery.
I am not being orgulous but divertirsory when I use unfamiliar words.
Some zealous proponents of a simpler lexicon may have eloquently called me a “pretentious snob” in view of my penchant for lexiphanicism. Some may view this as an attempt to establish my assumed superiority over the philistines of a more plebeian lexicon, but that is assuredly not true. I am not prone to judging one’s intelligence on grounds of one’s vocabulary.
It just so happens that I have, quite suddenly, found beatitude in discovering new words. Eventually, I learned that incorporating them into my writing eases my memorization of those words. In so doing, I have often fallen prey to catachresis, but it appears as if writing erroneously and improving thereafter helps me remember correct usage better than attempting to learn the precise meaning at the very outset.
It is apparently a more enervating way, but also a more fruitful way personally. One may regard as an example the word ‘obnubilate’. Were one to search for its synonyms, one would come across ‘surround’ as one of many. However, ‘obnubilate’ is a more precise word which denotes ‘to so surround as to obscure’, as if with a cloud. Thus, ‘obnubilate’ cannot in all circumstances be used as a replacement for ‘surround’.
To enrich one’s perspective with another example, I refer to the word ‘éclaircissement’. It implies “an enlightening explanation of something, typically someone’s conduct, that has been hitherto inexplicable.” However, as the definition would render obvious, it cannot in all circumstances replace the more humble ‘explanation’. It is more appropriately if not verisimilarly used with reference to phenomena so puzzling as to cause worry, and not to the more mundane questions which, if unanswered, do not cause much disquietude.
But this erroneous usage, and subsequent examination and correction, is what enables me to remember better.
In so doing, I have often repelled both those who are not disposed to read my writing with a dictionary at hand; and those whose flair and finesse with the English language far exceeds my acquaintance with it, in whose collective view my errors radiate amusement aplenty. (I have substantially forgotten the grammar I learnt at school; most seem shocked when I emphasize so).
I do not so write as to appear intelligent or superior to others. Most who read would not pose me, “How do you know so many words?” but would certainly pose, “Why on Earth can you not write comprehensible sentences?” But I do not, on many an occasion, write for readers. I write so as to facilitate an easier and more correct incorporation of new words into my lexicon, purely as pastime, if it can be called that.
In explanation of the recondite-sounding subtitle, the word ‘orgulous’ refers to ‘Having an especially high opinion of oneself, usually with contempt for others.’ However, ‘divertirsory’ is not as easy. One is not likely to find a reference to it. I concocted that out of an intuitive fecundity at inventing new words should another form thereof already exist. The word ‘divertirse’ is Spanish for ‘to have fun or to have a good time.’ Thus, given that a noun form is already in existence, I could concoct its adjective form that I intuitively regard as apt, just as I think ‘circumgyrant’ ought to be the adjective form of the verb ‘circumgyrate’. Neither ‘circumgyrant’ nor ‘divertirsory’ have official sanction. As to why it ought not to be ‘circumgyrationary’ in my view, I suspect one must specialize in linguistics, for linguistics alone could explain the pattern for already known words — why, for instance, ‘explanatory’ is the correct adjective form and ‘explanationary’ is not — and that pattern could subsequently be applied to the newly invented words. Linguistically, I may have erred in ‘circumgyrant’ and ‘divertirsory’, but these seem intuitively true on grounds of a perfunctory sense of words already in existence.
I may conclude with explaining the word divertissement: it means ‘an entertaining diversion’ and may loosely be used as a synonym for ‘recreation’.
