Of course, what that lawyer was talking about was a car wreck that occurred due to a faulty red light. Needless to say, he left the jurors scratching their heads wondering what he had just told them.
That story reminds me of Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy and his fondness for using big words that few of his listeners understand.
The Town Talk used the big word "collegiality" in its December 4, 2011 editorial about Jacques' vow to get along with the City Council ("TOWN TALK CALL FOR A TRUCE BETWEEN THE MAYOR AND THE COUNCIL"). Collegiality means "the cooperative relationship of colleagues".
Well Jacques either wrote that editorial himself or he liked the word so much that he used it as his own at the special meeting of the City Council on December 22, 2011.
The tendency for using big words using long when short ones would be better is called Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness. It is also known as "gross verbosity". id. Verbosity means "using or containing a great and usually an excessive number of words".
Jacques Roy is known statewide for being a motor mouth or verbose ("SOME INTERESTING TIDBITS FROM THE LOUISIANA SENATE YESTERDAY").
Many people think that they sound smarter when they use big words but the truth of the matter is that smart communicators use words that (a) they understand and (b) their readers are likely to understand. (See: "Big Words Make You Sound Smart, Don’t They?"). Communication is the process by which meaning is created and exchanged and if the person who reads your writing or listens to you doesn’t understand what you are trying to say, no communication occurs. id. "In order to communicate effectively, you have to use language properly, and you have to use language that people are likely to understand." id.
The end result is that Mayor Jacques Roy doesn't know how to communicate effectively.
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