Word: sesquipedalian
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...Although English was his third language—he picked up French and Spanish early in his continent-hopping cosmopolitan childhood—he was renowned for his erudite, highly refined, and idiosyncratic prose, often ridiculed by detractors as “sesquipedalian.” The son of an oil-baron millionaire, he attended posh private schools in Paris, London, and New York, and graduated from Yale a talented and ambitious young writer...
...scripted by Carroll Carroll. The writer shaped and sharpened (that is to say, softened) Crosby's public personality, as other scripters would do in the films. Giddins says Carroll allowed "Bing to be Bing, only more so." He added flourishes to Crosby's facility for mixing sesquipedalian phraseology with hipster slang. One tangy aside was apparently not written by Carroll. After a solo by one-armed trumpeter Wingy Malone, Bing quipped, "Man, that was dirtier than a Russian horse-doctor's valise...
...espionage novel Stained Glass, proved stagnant and pointless. Deficiencies that can be overlooked on the page -- cardboard characters, what-if plots about events from decades ago, smugness about how easy it is to distinguish between right and wrong -- are wearisome on the stage. Buckley's dialogue was, if not sesquipedalian, then not serendipitous either. The cumbersome production resulted in set changes longer than the scenes, although the scenes were not necessarily any more interesting...
...causes some problems. No discernible irony or worry leaven his political message-free world ends justify the means-or his fulsome adulation of the "beautiful" Oakes, "the man-boy American, loose, bright, shining with desire and desirability." At times like these, not even Buckley's wittiest sesquipedalian sonorities can allay the impression that he is writing with his foot in his cheek...
...Sugar Bowl battle between Alabama and Notre Dame for the national championship was so frantic that ABC'S Howard Cosell could barely get in a sesquipedalian word. The two psyched-up teams ran off 160 plays, compared with a more leisurely pro average of about 120. The pros are allowed 30 seconds between plays-compared to 25 in college-and they do not get a brief time out after every first down. Before Notre Dame won 24-23, the lead changed hands six times. Notre Dame Quarterback Tom Clements dashed for 74 yds. on 15 carries, and Alabama...