The more syllables the better

I have been taking jabs at TV personalities, particularly television decorators on HGTV. I could move on to someone else (polititians and consultants provide fantastic fodder for grammar curmudgeons), but I am not even close to finished with the decorators. Now, please don't get me wrong -- I actually like make of these people. But that does not make it any easier to listen to their verbal gaffes.

One of my pet peeves (okay, so I have an entire menagerie of them!) is the practice of trying to sound smarter, more erudite, classier, . . . who knows what . . . by using bigger words when simpler ones will do just as well, or perhaps even better.

Take the word "utilize." In TV design land, it appears that we no longer use. We utilize. No longer do we use a technique, we utilize it. Ditto colors, patterns, etc. Honestly, do we really utilize "utilize" in everyday conversation?

In defense of utilize, however, at least they are using it correctly. What really burns my buttocks is when people (very often television decorators), trying to appear well-spoken, use the wrong word. Two particular examples come to mind. First, you will often hear the word "simplistic" used when the correct word is really "simple." (There's a little irony here, yes? Keeping it simple would be better in more ways than one.)

There is a great website that was created by Paul Brian, a member of the Department of English at Washington State University. It lists countless words and phrases that are commonly misused. Here's what he has to say about "simplistic":

“Simplistic” means “overly simple,” and is always used negatively. Don’t substitute it when you just mean to say “simple” or even “very simple.”

I couldn't have said it better myself.

An second example that is equally annoying is the use of "grandiose" when one really means grand or elegant. While one is not absolutely incorrect in using grandiose to mean spectacularly grand, the word really has come to refer to something that is affectedly grand or more complicated than necessary. (Hmmm, yet another irony in progress?) And in psychiatric circles, grandiose means having a delusional belief in one's one importance. Given the more common negative connotations of the word, therefore, do you really want a grandiose chandelier in your dining room? I think not.

And that's it for today.