thejediknighthusezni said:
You know people who try to sound pretentious? :P

Indeed no, sir, but rather I find myself disadvantageously impotent when essaying to minimize my lexicon with picayune utterances.

In all seriousness, though I admit to probably coming off as pretentious, it's just the way I like to write. I tend to use a moderately larger vocabulary than others when speaking, but I can't imagine I am anywhere in the same league as Bingowings, who usually motivates me to look up at least one word or reference when reading his comments. But I try to ensure I use my words correctly, and I honestly make an effort not to resort too much to cliches. You'll find that I actually tend to modify my idioms so they don't come off as just another overused phrase.

But there are those who continually use the same stupid words over and over trying to sound smart, especially in the news and politics. Words like:

rhetoric
warmongering
optics
diversity
micro- (look on your shampoo bottles, nutritional supplements, lotions, etc.--they're all filled with micro-somethings!)
epic
war on...(drugs, women, minorities, Christians, Muslims)
fiscal cliff

I'll try to think of some more.