Deep Thought on Linguistics

Our language is getting dumber by the day. When is the last time you heard someone say "egregious" or "misanthropic" in a sentence? It's not because these words have been replaced, but simply because we've reduced our language into simpler terms, usually by substituting a large, exactly correct word, with several less correct words. An oversimplified example:
"I misinterpreted him." vs. "I heard what he was saying but thought he meant something else."

This becomes an issue, to me, because I love our language and love inserting my own word of the day into my posts. But as words become more and more rare, the insertion of those words seems either awkward or worse; ostentatious (ostentatious was not my word of the day). I'm not trying to "talk purty" and wow and intimidate my readers with my sharp intellect. I just am aware that there "is a word for that" and I prefer to use that word and take the direct route rather than circle all the way around via a long and...well...elephantine sentence (elephantine was my word of the day).

To this end I humbly suggest that parents incentivize wordplay for their children:
"Mommy, this homework problem is making me lugubrious."*
"Nice word choice. Perhaps a later bedtime will lift your melancholy."

*Bonus if said with British accent.


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