Line #176 Main/DelusionsOfEloquence


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6	[[caption-width-right:341:[-Walking the thin line between this trope and [[WordSaladHorror plain aphasia]].-]]]
7	%%
8	->'''Douglas Klump:''' The perimeters of our assignment were described to us with specificity, Mr. Shlubb. We are to deposit our cargo into the body of water which we now overlook. It was likeways made clear to us that any embellishments of said perimeters would not be advisory.[[labelnote:Translation]]They told us to dump the body. Just stick to the plan.[[/labelnote]]\
9	'''Burt Shlubb:''' I cannot prescribe to such a narrow interpretation of the perimeters which you now invoke, Mr. Klump.[[labelnote:Translation]]No.[[/labelnote]]
10	-->-- ''[[ComicBook/SinCity Sin City: Fat Man and Little Boy]]''
11
12	Delusions of Eloquence occur when a person [[FeigningIntelligence tries too hard to sound "educated"]] by using [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness Big Words]] or carefully chosen phrases, but gets it wrong, filling their dialogue with [[{{Malaproper}} malapropisms]], mispronunciations, and mangled grammar. The result is that they sound ''less'' educated and at the same time a pompous and pretentious attention seeker.
13
14	In fiction, this habit can be used to set up a character as a stuffed shirt who demands respect but is mocked behind his back or to add charm or humor to a character who would otherwise seem a little flat. Unfortunately, it is sometimes a case of TruthInTelevision, as there really are people who do this.
15
16	Note, this trope works better in print. Characters with Delusions of Eloquence are really funny in the comics, where you can look at the talk bubbles and see, in black and white, what they are doing to our mother tongue. In a film, they just come across as two {{mooks}} who talk too much. ("Low-rent thugs with [[TropeNamers delusions of eloquence]]," as [[ComicBook/SinCity Hartigan]] puts it).
17
18	This delusion is often associated with a KnowNothingKnowItAll or {{Fake Brit}}s. A character using familiar words but pronouncing them fancily is giving them PretentiousPronunciation. Compare BuffySpeak, where the ideas may be legitimately sophisticated, but the speaker lacks the ability to properly articulate them, {{Malaproper}}, where the character may misuse words completely by accident, MeaninglessMeaningfulWords, when they attempt to sound deep and profound but instead regurgitate flowery word salad nonsense (while also being likely to perceive other examples of this as profound), and {{Technobabble}}, where the words may have no meaning at all. Contrast SpockSpeak and SesquipedalianLoquaciousness, where the big words and proper grammar are used correctly, but for differing reasons. See also YouKeepUsingThatWord, for when a character calls out another for misusing a word. When used in written media, this can overlap with RougeAnglesOfSatin. When intentionally used for humour, may be an ExpospeakGag. And finally, contrast SophisticatedAsHell, where the user combines more down-to-earth language with [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness Big Words]].
19	[[noreallife]]
20
21	'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease''' This exists, but this site does not seek to be judgmental and insulting towards people.
22
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
28	* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': [[LordErrorProne Tatewaki Kunō]]. "The vengeance of heaven is slow but sure...". One of his least head-aching speeches.
29	* In ''Anime/BangDream'', Kaoru constantly tries to sound like an eloquent, insightful, sophisticated princely type, complete with constant references to [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare The Great Bard]]. It works... on her fangirls, anyway. Anyone who spends more than five minutes in her presence, however, realises very quickly that nothing she says actually makes a lick of sense. In particular, she overuses the word 'fleeting' to the point that nobody can figure out what she's trying to mean by it.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Comic Books]]
33	* ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'': Lucullan does this often.
34	* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'': Imperial Pimpotron Alpha could give [[Webcomic/OneOverZero Marcus]] a run for his money. It seems that his speech derives from WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture, which results in some weird neologisms:
35	-->'''Imperial Pimpotron Alpha:''' For I, Imperial Pimpotron Alpha am scouticruiting you for priviligious erotiservitude in the Cosmolactic Emperor's Harem!
36	* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': Larfleeze, largely because he's a PsychopathicManchild who's ReallySevenHundredYearsOld.
37	* ''ComicBook/{{Lawless}}'': In Chapter 7 of the SpaceWestern ''Lawless: Ballots over Badrock'' in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd Megazine'', Deputy Nerys Peffiter is trying to write a formal testimony about the corruption she's uncovered, which is an odd mix of Western-talk and what someone who doesn't speak legalese thinks legalese sounds like. (She's in no way stupid; she's a competent administrator who uncovered some well-hidden corruption. She just isn't sure how you're supposed to write these things up.)
38	-->'''Peffiter's narration''': Thus I'm afeared, further not-so-with, that there is a ''lot'' of hardship. People are still copin' with injuries from the war, or post-traumatic stress. Business may be boomin', but the people of Badrock ''ain't''.
39	-->'''Peffiter''' ''(reading this back to [[ConsultingMrPuppet her teddy bear]])'': Is "not-so-with" correct, Mr Grossums? I reckon so. Anyway ... Item two...
40	-->'''Peffiter's narration''': ...The usual arbiter of stablity, Metta Lawson, is of late ''no longer'' en-badged as marshal herewithout. She was a ''fine'' marshal and protected Badrock with all her born heart, but there was an election for mayor, in which she ran, but which was, withall and not withstanding, won in most ''unexpected'' fashion by Royal Wilty. More of ''that'' matter, aforelong hereafter, in item seven.
41	* ''ComicBook/SinCity'': The former (and, in a roundabout way, current) trope namers Shlubb and Klump. What can you say about people who render "circumnavigation" as "circumlocution" (when talking about driving around the block, yet!) or "quenched" as "quelched" or refer to "Consequences most dire" being "athwart us" or... you get the picture.
42	* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': Runabout is a good example. He and his best friend/partner-in-crime Runamuck are basically delinquents who love pranks and graffiti. The difference is that while Runamuck is fully aware that what the duo are doing is childish and silly (and gladly embraces this fact), Runabout has deluded himself into believing that he's a brilliant, Banksy-style artist who creates revolutionary art and social commentary. His art is actually poorly scribbled phrases like "humans are wimps".
43	* ''ComicBook/XMenNoir'': The noir version of [[ComicBook/XMen Hank McCoy]] does this, in a sort of parody of the mainstream incarnation's SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
47	* ''ComicStrip/NittioettanKarlsson'': The Tofta gang's leader Berra tends to overestimate his smarts. For instance, has tried to declare himself a genius using the term "genialisk" only to pronounce it as "geni'''t'''alisk" ("genital") several times.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Fan Works]]
51	* [[IdiotHero Goku]] in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' has a tendency to use words and phrases he doesn't actually understand. This can range from funny to awkward. This is lampshaded by Freeza in Episode 29:
52	-->'''Freeza:''' THAT'S STUPID! ''YOU'RE'' STUPID! ''STOP BEING STUPID!''\
53	'''Goku:''' Or... maybe I'm just being rhetorical.\
54	'''Freeza:''' [[BluntNo NO!!! NO YOU'RE NOT!]] God, it's like [[YouKeepUsingThatWord you just use words you hear randomly to try and sound smarter]]!\
55	'''Goku:''' Heh, well now you're just acting transcendent!\
56	'''Freeza:''' ''(knees Goku in the face)''
57	* Matt and Tai in ''WebVideo/DigimonAdventureTriAbridged'' do this whenever they get into an argument, which their friends lampshade. The only way to stop them is to use equally complex words to tell them to knock it off.
58	* ''Fanfic/WhotrekTheUltimateAdventure1'' sees this be the case for “[[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep the ergo guy in the room with screens who talks a lot and I don't like him]]”[[note]]a rather bizarre take on [[Film/TheMatrix the Architect]][[/note]], who acts as a SesquipedalianLoquaciousness, but all his grandiose words are used in completely nonsensical manners, making it all but impossible to understand anything he says.
59	-->"I created the Matrix. Ergo I can photosynthesis 90 percent of space-time to eradicate the miscreant particles of individuality. Ergo I am [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial most definitely not the man you refer to as the Master]] therefore I will not anti this establishment and simultaneously the relevant pseudopods of your clavicle heliocentrism."
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls'': Archibald Snatcher desperately wants to be part of posh, elegant high society and apes it at every opportunity, but he doesn't really understand any of the social trappings he aspires to. He tries to say elegant things about the taste of fancy cheeses, but can't come up with anything himself and is only able to belatedly agree with Mr. Trout's more poetic description; in the climax, he repeats this word-for-word even though he's eating an entirely different cheese that that's not an accurate evaluation of. He also has no patience for ceremony, and angrily cuts off Lord Portley-Rind's introduction of the cheese they're about to taste so that he can get to the eating.
64	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'': Alpha tends to do this, intentionally using more "educated" language over the other dogs despite being just as much of a, well, dog.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
68	* ''Film/AnimalHouse'': Eric Stratton is trying to impress an older woman (who turns out to be the wife of the college's Dean) in the grocery store, as he picks up a large cucumber:
69	-->'''Eric:''' I think vegetables can be very sensuous, don't you?\
70	'''Mrs. Wormer:''' No, vegetables are sensual. People are sensuous.
71	** Oddly enough (or a shockingly subtle joke for that film), Mrs. Wormer may be wrong: [[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sensual "sensual"]] vs. [[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sensuous "sensuous"]].
72	%%* ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'': George [=McFly=], although probably more out of being nervous around girls than ignorance:%%ZCE
73	%%-->'''George:''' Lorraine, my density has brought me to you.
74	* ''Film/BeingThere'': Chance the Gardener is a man with mild mental delays who can't take care of himself, but he's dressed so well everyone assumes he's rich and thinks everything he says is a profound statement. Subverted in that Chance himself was just responding in the only way he knew how.
75	%%* ''Film/BoweryBoys'': Slip Mahoney is all about this trope.
76	%%* ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': "Are ''you'' addressing ''I''?"
77	%%* ''Film/{{Election}}'':%%Quotes aren't context.
78	%%--> '''Tracy Flick:''' What happened at the speeches was an "unconscienceable'' tragedy.
79	* ''Film/GlassOnion'': The brilliant but erratic tech innovator Miles Bron's language is peppered with plausible but nonexistent words and ones that aren't quite correct. [[spoiler: In fact, it's plot-relevant; as it turns out, Miles is just an idiot who steals other people's ideas.]]
80	%%* ''Film/GoodWillHunting'': The scene where Chuckie poses as Will in the job interview.
81	* ''Film/TheLocals'': TheBogan Nev tells Paul that the girls he is trying to hook up with are dead, and that they call that "haemophilia". His mate Tone hurriedly whispers that the word is "necrophilia".
82	* ''Film/MyFairLady'' essentially starts with Professor Henry Higgins casually wagering that although his peers believe in this trope, he can overcome it and teach a commoner to blend in with the British upper class. The rest of the movie is essentially an elaborate socialite training montage for Eliza Doolittle, and this trope happens multiple times before he can teach her to surpass it.
83	* ''Film/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': Stefano claims that he wants to "facilitate and remain observatory" while working for Uncle Monty.
84	* ''Film/SexyBeast'': Don Logan likes to think he's smarter than the protagonists, but his [[MotorMouth rapid-fire speech]] is half ClusterFBomb and half this, with needless extra words and non-words ("insinuendos") everywhere.
85	* ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'' has henchmen Iggy and Spike use this after they've been [[EvolutionaryLevels evolved]] into an "advanced" form, showing that even with enhanced intelligence, they're still pretty dumb.
86	* ''Film/WhatACarveUp'': Working in the publishing industry -- albeit as a proofreader of lurid horror novels--Ernie has an overinflated opinion of his level of culture and education. Best demonstrated when he explains the vital importance of his job as proofreader while completely mangling the grammar of the sentence. The bemused look on Syd's face is something to behold.
87	* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': The head weasel talks like this. Saying things like "Do you want us to disresemble the place?" and offering to "repose" of Roger.
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Literature]]
91	* Edgar Allen Poe's ''How to Write a Blackwood Article'' centers around a young woman hoping to learn to write well who's taught the tricks of the trade by an AuthorAvatar. Naturally, her subsequent story proceeds to horrifically mangle the vocabulary, quotes, and plot devices she was given, implying that [[TakeThat Poe's writing wasn't as formulaic as]] [[RealLifeWritesThePlot his critics would have you believe.]]
92	* Creator/RaymondBriggs' character James Bloggs. We first meet him in ''Gentleman Jim'', where he has been a toilet attendant for many years, never moving up in the world because he "lacks enterprise and initiation" and "doesn't have the levels" ('O' and 'A' levels, school certificates or "cerstificates" as James puts it). We see him again in ''ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows'', where he and his wife, Hilda, prepare for nuclear war. "It could affect us all, the Ultimate Determent an' that." "I think it's called the Big Bang theory."
93	* Guido, one of the two good {{Mooks}} from Robert Asprin's ''Literature/MythAdventures'' series.
94	** Mind you, Guido has an MBA and has said that he spent considerable time perfecting his mook-speak, because (as with Chumley's HulkSpeak) he constantly deals with people who respect street smarts and a capacity for violence more than higher learning. The series as a whole has a similar preference, though... the one character who uses SesquipedalianLoquaciousness is playing ''dumb''.
95	** It's also mentioned that Guido was in ''Guys and Dolls'' when he was in school, and developed a fondness for his character's speech patterns.
96	* ''Literature/HowNotToWriteANovel'' starts its section on wording and phrasing with first "The Puffer Fish", described as "[[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness Wherein the author flaunts his vocabulary]]", but then goes into "The [[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crepuscular Crepuscular]] Handbag", described as "Wherein the author flaunts '''someone else's''' vocabulary". The example passage is a [[BlackComedyRape rape scene that's made difficult to take seriously]] by misusing a word every other sentence; for example, it describes the villain [[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slaver slavering]] [[SlippingAMickey a drug into a drink]], [[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ululate ululating]] under his breath, [[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whicker whickering]] [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor a cruel joke]], and [[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vacate vacating]] in his victim.
97	-> ''"Using a word almost correctly, or using a word almost exactly like the right word, amounts to almost speaking English. You may think that the occasional slip-up won’t matter; but the language you choose is the clothing in which your novel is draped, and saying “incredulous” when you mean “incredible” is the prose equivalent of walking into a meeting wearing your underwear on the outside."''
98	* A character in ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' speaks in unintelligibly mangled French to sound more intelligent and [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench impress a girl]].
99	* Shrub and Klump Russian as used by Modest Kamnoyedov from Creator/StrugatskyBrothers' novel ''Literature/MondayBeginsOnSaturday''. He is a bureaucrat working in the Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry, fails to get the local TechnoBabble but still tries to use it. HilarityEnsues (for example, he pronounces the word homunculus as "hum-moonkles").
100	* Literature/{{Discworld}}:
101	** [[ThoseTwoGuys Colon and Nobby]] tend to slip into this when no one else is around. Particularly noticeable in ''Literature/{{Thud}}''
102	** Ridcully, who has no patience for terminology, never lets nitpicking slow him down: thus the space-time continuinuinuum.
103	%%* ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'': Bella's narration throughout is simultaneously pretentious and idiotic.
104	* In ''Theatre/TheRivals'', this is an infamous attribute of one character, Mrs. Malaprop.
105	* Owl in ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' is rather like this; he's supposed to be what a young child would think sounds educated.
106	* OlderThanPrint: The Host in ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales''.
107	* One of Creator/DaveBarry's "Mister Language Person" columns suggested using this as "Power Vocabulary" to impress your boss with:
108	-->'''You''': Good morning, Mr. Johnson, you hemorrhoidal infrastructure.\
109	'''Your Boss''': What?
110	* In ''Literature/BridgetJones: The Edge of Reason'', Bridget tries to start off her interview with Creator/ColinFirth by asking him about a movie of his that isn't ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'', and comes up with: "Do you think the book of ''Literature/FeverPitch'' has spored a confessional gender?" (She was supposed to ask him if it had "spawned a confessional genre," but had heard the phrase wrong.) He struggles to come up with a reasonable answer to this nonsensical question.
111	* [[InformedFlaw Informed example]]: the narrator of Creator/AntonChekhov's short story "Peasants" characterizes the "hetman" of the village, saying that he is unable to read but had acquired "bookish expressions." The reader never hears much of his speech but is left to imagine that it would be much like this.
112	%%* In ''Whale Talk'' by Cris Crutcher Dan Hole comes across as this.
113	* In ''Literature/LesMiserables'', the villainous Thenardier is a frequent example of this. He speaks and writes in a flowery manner that gives him the air of a philosopher/intellectual, but his writing is filled with misspellings, and Hugo comments to the effect that his obsession with Big Words shows a stupid person's understanding of what a smart person sounds like. Thenardier also frequently defends arguments by fraudulent citations of famous people, but has no actual knowledge of those authorities, except that they are famous (e.g. he will cite to the novels of someone who only wrote poetry). His wife also demonstrates this through the odd names she gave to her daughters, taken from romantic novels. This choice is very similar to the idea underlying a GhettoName.
114	* Occurs in Richard Lederer's ''Anguished English'' books. This example is from a court transcript:
115	-->'''Attorney:''' How did you know he was drunk?\
116	'''Witness:''' Because he was argumentary and he couldn't pronunciate his words.
117	* The mother of the title character in Creator/MarkTwain's "A Dog's Tale" used fancy-sounding human words she didn't know the meaning of while speaking to other dogs in an attempt to seem important. When asked to explain what they meant, she would come up with a nonsensical explanation with more fancy-sounding words.
118	--> And every day the friends and neighbors flocked in to hear about my heroism -- that was the name they called it by, and it means agriculture. I remember my mother pulling it on a kennel once, and explaining it in that way, but didn't say what agriculture was, except that it was synonymous with intramural incandescence.
119	* ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'' has the rogue trader Sholto Unwerth, whose mangling of the English language must be seen to be believed.
120	-->'''Sholto Unwerth:''' I miss nothing, eaves-wise. Ears as sharp as pencils, me. No, no. All fair. If Mistress Zeedmund here finds me an abject increment to her affiliations, and wants no more of me, all she has to overtake is a word in my general. A simple ingratitude from her, and I will be, so to speak, out of your air. Without any requisite for shoving, slapping, or harsh language. On the however hand, if what I have so far expleted trickles her fancy, I would be most oblate to dispel some more, at her total inconvenience, on the subject of what I have pertaining in my cargo hold.”
121	* Augustus and Hazel from ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'' are borderline cases--they get some of their longer and/or rarer and/or archaic words right and then misuse "transmit" or "soliloquy", for just two examples.
122	* ''Literature/MondayBeginsOnSaturday'': The hack academician Amvrosiy Amvrosiy Vybegallo speaks in unintelligibly mangled French and tries to imitate sophisticated syntax to sound more intelligent and conceal his lack of intellect and manners. And [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench impress a girl]].
123	* ''Literature/AnansiBoys'': The BadBoss and one of the major villains of the piece, Grahame Coates, uses {{Malaprop\|er}}isms, MeaninglessMeaningfulWords, [[IceCreamKoan Ice Cream Koans]] and the like ''constantly'' because he thinks it makes him seem more intellectual and approachable. All it really does, though, is emphasize the fact that he's a [[AnimalMotifs spiteful little weasel]]. [[spoiler: At the end, Tiger gets fed up with this and just eats him.]]
124	* In the ''Shakespearian Franchise/StarWars'' series by Ian Doescher, Watto the junk dealer is explicitly made to be the equivalent of Dogberry from ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing''. For example, he refers to his hyperdrive generator as "this ''extensive'' part" instead of "this ''expensive'' part".
125	* ''Literature/ConstanceVeritySavesTheWorld'': While waiting for Byron, Connie finds a mobster who thinks she stole his diamonds rummaging through her cabinets. When he tries to hold a "civil" conversation, she gives out a groan that he's "one of those verbose, ''civilized'' gangsters" that "loves his own voice and likes to talk around his actual threats."
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
129	* (Zigzagged) Shlubb and Klump French: Perceval and Karadoc from ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}''. While they occasionally play the trope straight, most of their word-based humor comes from them having no clue what some relatively complex words mean, and they don't attempt to use it. Then there's the "secret technique" that resulted in MemeticMutation: "c'est pas faux" (translating to "that's not wrong" or "yeah, I guess"), which allows the user to mask his ignorance in a conversation.
130	** One minor character inverts this, as he can't remember the "big words", and [[RuleOfFunny of course]] serves as messenger between [[spoiler:Lancelot's rebels]] and Arthur. He memorably turned "The king sends an ultimatum" into "The king sends a nutritionist".
131	* Arthur Daley, the [[HonestJohnsDealership Honest John]] of ''Series/{{Minder}}'', often uses larger words than he understands and is prone to malapropisms, as tries to present himself as genteel and upper crust.
132	* The best-known interpreter of [[Creator/DamonRunyon Runyonesque]] dialogue was character actor and TV producer Sheldon Leonard. He actually spoke in a Runyonesque way in real life, but only his characters displayed Delusions of Eloquence. In real life, Leonard was NOT prone to misusing words -- it is just that his impressive vocabulary and formal speech (which did not employ contractions) seemed at odds with his lower-class accent. Leonard's distinctive version of the overly literate gangster/thug kept him employed in movies, radio, and television for nearly sixty years. When not doing character parts, Leonard produced TV classics like ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'', ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'', and ''Series/ISpy'', often doing guest shots on his own shows.
133	* The ''Series/InLivingColor'' sketch character, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_In_Living_Color_sketches#O Oswald Bates,]] is an inmate who delivers self-educated political ramblings. The humor is based on his misuse of vocabulary, and anatomical terms in particular.
134	-->"First of all, we must internalize the flatulation of the matter, by transmitting the effervescent of the indonesian proximity, in order to further segregate the crux, of my venereal infection. Now, if I may retain my liquids here for one moment, I'd like to continue the redundance of my, quote-unquote, "intestinal tract", see, because to preclude on the issue of world domination would only circumvent... excuse me, circum''size'' the revelation that reflects the aphrodesiatic symptoms, which now perpetrates the gericurl's activation."\
135	"Allow me to expose my colon, once again, the ramification inflicted on the incision placed within the Fallopian cavities serves to be holistic, taken form the Latin word, 'jalapeno'..."
136	* An episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'' has Radar taking a correspondence course in creative writing. The episode consists mainly of him writing [[DayInTheLife the daily reports]] like a bad novel, in the process angering Colonel Potter.
137	* This was the schtick of Maple [=LaMarsh=] on ''Series/RememberWENN''.
138	* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': The scene from the bar in the "Train Job" episode? ("This is a most... Ass-picious day!")
139	* In the ''Series/{{Castle\|2009}}'' episode "Overkill" the hungover motel clerk tends to babble on in a fashion like this ("I appreciate you guys intervejecting [sic] with the police down there on my behest.")
140	* The ''Series/Detroit187'' episode "Beaten/ Cover Letter" featured a boxer's manager who spoke like this-- and a detective who mocked him for it.
141	* One of the running gags on ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Charlie's]] tendency to slip into this mode whenever he tries to impress people. One of the most memorable happens when he receives advice on how to talk to a beautiful woman.
142	-->'''Mac:''' Just tell her you're a philanthropist. Chicks dig it when you work with kids and senior citizens and crap.\
143	'''Woman:''' So what do you do for a living?\
144	'''Charlie:''' I'm a ... full-on-rapist ... you know, kids and old people, mainly.
145	* In one episode of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', [[TheDitz Eric]] gets a word-a-day calendar to improve his vocabulary and he tries to use these words in conversation but repeatedly fails at it. By the end of the episode, he gets the hang of it but annoys everybody by using big words in mundane conversation.
146	* An episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' had Joey writing a letter and discovering, to his delight, the thesaurus function on his word processor. Given the tool's imprecisions, his letter (and his dialogue for the rest of the episode) became this trope.
147	-->'''Chandler:''' ''[reading from letter]'' "''Baby kangaroo'' Tribbiani"?
148	* Michael Scott of ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' is likely to use several of those every time he speaks.
149	** And when he "improvs conversation" as he puts it, expect him to confuse everyone ''including himself'', leading to a {{metaphorgotten}}.
150	* Gob of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' has not mastered either the meaning or pronunciation of "circumvent" (once pronouncing it "cir-sum-vrent"). He does not fare any better with "consummate" either.
151	* Mrs. Slocombe of ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' was frequently prone to this, including in one of her catchphrases ("And I am unanimous in that").
152	-->"The earth began as a soup, with little orgasms floating about in it."
153	* The police version is displayed by Dave, a police officer in ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', especially in [[{{flanderization}} his second appearance]] on the show. His "talking head" segments are delivered like police reports, and in general, he has a tendency toward malapropisms and using PerfectlyCromulentWord(s).
154	* Sabalom Glitz, ''Series/DoctorWho'''s very own CMOTDibbler who appears in the serials "Trial of a Time Lord" and "Dragonfire", tends to drift into this when attempting to convince others of his intelligence and sophistication.
155	* Played for laughs a lot in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses''. Del Boy uses French words and phrases, and sometimes long English words, in an effort to sound sophisticated, knowledgeable, and/or upper-class. He fails. Other characters also do this from time to time, principally Boycie.
156	* On ''Series/DesperateHousewives'':
157	-->'''Danielle:''' You're always mean to me, just like you were to Dad! You emasculated him. Well, you're not going to emasculate me!\
158	'''Bree:''' You don't even know what that ''means'', you petulant sockpuppet!\
159	'''Danielle:''' Who. Cares. I'm going to the store.\
160	'''Bree:''' ''[as Danielle walks out]'' BUY A DICTIONARY!
161	* In ''Series/TrailerParkBoys'', most of Ricky's {{Malaproper}}s have no such delusions, but he will occasionally try to use fancy terms which inevitably fall into this trope.
162	--> '''Ricky:''' You're going to do us a little favour. Au Gratin.
163	* Little Carmine Lupertazzi, in his constant efforts to demonstrate erudition he never had and couldn't begin to spell, fell prey to this on ''Series/TheSopranos'' with monotonous regularity.
164	* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' mines comedy by portraying Australian attempts to be erudite, indulging in the English stereotype that Australians are uncultured boors.
165	** The "Bruces" sketch is about the philosophy department at the fictional University of Woolloomooloo, where all the professors are ockers named Bruce who fixate on getting drunk.
166	** "Australian Table Wines" is a high-class discussion of various Australian wines. One is said to "really open up the sluices at both ends" and another "should be used only for hand-to-hand combat."
167	** Also a common tendency of Eric Praline, viz. the man what purchased the dead parrot.
168	* A sketch in ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' has Benny, playing a French film director, being interviewed by Henry [=McGee=], who is not as fluent in French as he thinks:
169	-->'''[=McGee=]:''' I liked the scene in your latest film when the girl says to the man, "I want a life in the grand manner" \
170	'''Benny:''' When does she say that? \
171	'''[=McGee=]:''' In the restaurant, when she says, "Je voudrais le moue meuniere". \
172	'''Benny:''' Actually, what she actually says is, "Je voudrais les moules marinieres", that means, "I'll have the mussel soup."
173	* In Netflix's ''Series/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', Count Olaf has a habit of spicing up his vocabulary with big words that he uses ''right'' about half the time. (When he ''hits,'' he dismisses a movie theater as a "godforsaken nickelodeon".)
174	* ''Series/AustraliaYoureStandingInIt'': Tim and Debbie frequently mispronounce ("igniminiminous") and misuse ("vale" to mean "bravo") lofty-sounding words, and utter lengthy sentences meant to sound deep but that are just incoherent.
175	-->'''Tim''': Cause it's the things you don't know you know, that you think you know you don't know...you know?
176	[[/folder]]
177
178	[[folder:Music]]
179	* "Throwing Off Glass" by Music/TheTragicallyHip describes a character (implicitly the narrator's daughter) who has the tendency to overuse words she likes the sound of. In a twist on this trope, the narrator seems rather charmed by this habit, as the ambiguous wording of the lyric suggests that her love of new words adds some enchantment to the world.
180	-->And just like after she heard the word "iridescent"
181	-->And everything was iridescent for a while
182	* The Mighty Sparrow's calypso classic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkbYq_E-okU "Well Spoken Moppers"]] is a satire of people who use long words incorrectly in an attempt to seem intelligent. He even throws in some neologisms of his own.
183	[[/folder]]
184
185	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
186	* Wild Red Berry was basically a WrestlingMonster with no formal education who tried to obscure this fact by compulsively reading poetry and dictionaries in search of words he had not heard other people use. Fully grasping the context of those words wasn't the goal, so long as he made it clear he insulting the readers and his scheduled opponents in the ads he took out in newspapers.[[/folder]]
187
188	[[folder:Radio]]
189	* The classic version of this trope is ''Radio/AmosAndAndy'' in both radio and television shows of the 1940s and 1950s. The radio show had its black leads voiced by white actors (who also played the roles in blackface in a movie; the television show cast actual African-Americans) speaking fluent Shlubb and Klump. It fell out of favor when polite society discovered that many whites who watched the show thought that the "Negros" they met in real life were just as stupid and shiftless as these caricatures. Weirdly, even though ''Amos & Andy'' has been off the air for half a century, even as reruns, similar blackface characters keep turning up in home-grown musicals performed by all-white college fraternities.
190	* ''Radio/CabinPressure:'' Arthur whenever he's in Steward Mode combines this and DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment, often overdoing the simplest of announcements in an attempt to sound smart.
191	* This was a particular specialty of Archie the Bartender, in the old '40s comedy ''Radio/DuffysTavern''.
192	* Phil Harris did this all the time on ''Radio/ThePhilHarrisAliceFayeShow''.
193	* The Radio/BobAndRay character of Dr. Elmer Stapley, "The Word Wizard", was all about this trope.
194	* In the ''Stanley Baxter Playhouse'' episode "Two Desperate Men", based on "The Ransom of Red Chief" by Creator/OHenry, this is part of the characterisation of Hughie, the kidnapper played by Baxter, for example calling Glasgow "That great sprawling metamorphosis". This gets lampshaded by the kidnap victim:
195	-->'''Logan:''' And Scout gets his words wrong because he's trying to sound clever.\
196	'''Hughie:''' That's ostentatious!
197	[[/folder]]
198
199	[[folder:Theater]]
200	* The theme of mooks talking over their heads was a mainstay of Creator/DamonRunyon's writings in the early 20th century and is the likely inspiration for most modern examples. ''Theatre/GuysAndDolls'', a musical and movie in the 1950s, is still being performed today, giving generations of American high school students a chance to channel their inner mook on stage.
201	* Another '50s example is the musical and movie ''Theatre/KissMeKate'', the plot of which concerns a production of a [[TheMusical musical]] version of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew''. Two mooks show up at the theater to make sure the leading man pays his gambling debts. They get to strut their stuff in the classic comic song, "Brush Up Your Shakespeare."
202	** The mooks can almost steal the show this way if they can play their respective mob stereotypes (the stocky, verbose fellow with an exaggerated accent, and the skinny old guy with the Marlon-Brando-impersonator's voice) completely and hilariously straight, even while singing.
203	* Arnold, a mildly mentally-impaired man with various strange personality disorders in Tom Griffin's play ''The Boys Next Door'' is very talkative and thinks he's much more knowledgeable than he really is:
204	--> '''Arnold''': The [store] manager called me a fucking nut. So I called him a banana republic. Did I get even or what?!
205	* Macheath in [[Creator/BertoltBrecht Brecht's]] ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'' is sort of a cross between this and KnowNothingKnowItAll, speaking in a much more genteel manner than his mooks, but prone to crude language when angry. In one scene, he lectures them on their ignorance and discusses Chippendale vs. Louis Quatorze furniture but doesn't actually know which piece of furniture is which.
206	* Creator/{{Shakespeare}} liked to write buffoonish, lower-class characters who try to speak above their station and end up littering their speech with malapropisms, much to the confusion of many modern students.
207	** Dogberry in Shakespeare's ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing'' is something of a cross between this and the {{Malaproper}}:
208	--->'''Dogberry:''' Thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this.
209	** Bottom from ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' also makes a habit of this.
210	** And Nurse from ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. Even Benvolio lampshades it.
211	** So do the gravediggers in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''; Shakespeare seemed to like this trope for his comic-relief characters.
212	** As well as ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'''s Sir Andrew Aguecheek:
213	---> '''Sir Toby''': ''(upon seeing Maria)'' Accost, good knight, accost! (Meaning to woo.)
214	---> '''Sir Andrew''': Good Mistress Accost...
215	---> '''Maria''': My name is Mary, sir.
216	---> '''Sir Andrew''': Good Mistress Mary Accost...
217	** In ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'', Launcelot Gobbo and his father Old Gobbo:
218	---> '''Old Gobbo''': He hath a great infection, as one would say, to serve.
219	** Not a lower-class example, but from the pompous head courtier and king's counselor Polonius in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', whose every sentence is a either a pretentious but empty platitude or an equally empty tautology, such as
220	---> '''Polonius''': Mad call I it; for, to define true madness, What is't but to be nothing else but mad?
221	** Osric, the foppish, social-climbing courtier in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' also thinks he's a brilliant phrase-maker. He isn't.
222	* A classic element of MinstrelShows was the "stump speech," where a stereotypical black character (usually a white actor in {{blackface}}) would give a political address filled with high-flown malapropisms from beginning to end.
223	* G(a)linda and Madame Morrible of ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' are both prone to this. Specifically, they tend to tack extraneous or just plain wrong suffixes onto otherwise serviceable words. Since they typically do it when speaking to people of lower class than themselves, it's possible they know it's wrong but think their audience will be impressed anyway.
224	** Actually, according to the companion book ''The Grimmerie'', this is simply Ozian English, [[LampshadeHanging dialectically speaking]].
225	* In the Danish comedy play ''Theatre/ErasmusMontanus'', the village KnowNothingKnowItAll speaks Schlubb And Klump [[GratuitousLatin Latin]], with a good dose of CanisLatinicus mixed in with occasionally correct words. The main character (a pompous and over-educated StrangerInAFamiliarLand come home to visit his parents) tries to call him on it, only to fail because the villagers don't speak a word of the language anyway and find the conman's gibberish more convincing.
226	* In the CommediaDellArte, one of Dottore's standards was to misuse words, for example pluralizing things according to Latin or Greek rules; he was terrified of being mugged by "hoodla" (hoodlums).
227	* In ''Theatre/{{seminar}}'', Douglas often comes off this way, especially in his [[EstablishingCharacterMoment opening speech]].
228	* Mrs. Malaprop in ''Theatre/TheRivals'' was a famous example, and inspired the coining of the term "malapropism":
229	-->'''Mrs. Malaprop:''' Then, sir, she should have a supercilious knowledge in accounts; and as she grew up, I would have her instructed in geometry, that she might know something of the contagious countries; but above all, Sir Anthony, she should be mistress of orthodoxy, that she might not mis-spell, and mis-pronounce words so shamefully as girls usually do; and likewise that she might reprehend the true meaning of what she is saying.
230	[[/folder]]
231
232	[[folder:Video Games]]
233	* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
234	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'': Tuppence fancies himself a refined ladies man, but he cannot help misusing words every time he ''tries'' to woo a woman.
235	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' has Yangus, who while mostly being a lower-class BoisterousBruiser, occasionally tries to mix in words of more than 2 syllables...and always, ALWAYS screws them up. How hard is it to say 'specific,' man?!
236	* The character Redd White ([[PunnyName Head of Bluecorp]]) in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney.'' His VerbalTic is basically [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness dropping big words whenever possible]] to make himself seem more sophisticated. More often than not, he uses them incorrectly and he even ''makes some up'' to sound fancy. Appropriately enough, he's the chapter's villain. (In the Japanese version, he uses GratuitousEnglish instead, but since he clearly thinks it makes him seem sophisticated, it still counts.)
237	** Yumihiko Ichiyanagi[=/=]Sebastian Debeste in ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations 2'' misuses words and phrases on a daily basis. Initially, it just makes him look like a KnowNothingKnowItAll, but ultimately you learn that no one's ever really tried to teach him anything, due to pressure from his father to just give him a good grade and be done with it.
238	* Abercrombie Fizzwidget from ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando''. [[spoiler: It turns out that he does this because he's actually dim-witted Captain Qwark in disguise. The real Fizzwidget speaks normally.]]
239	* Lukan the Witless in ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura''. He's convinced that "witless" is a synonym for "humorless." Appropriately, his and his henchmen's BeefGate status can be circumvented with a single point in Persuasion.
240	** "Who am I? ''Who am I?'' Lukan! Lukan the Witless! Where I go, the masses quabble in perturbisiveness and trepidunction!"
241	* Lord Rugdumph gro-Shurgak in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. He manages to work about three [[{{Malaproper}} malapropisms]] into every sentence. He wishes you to exterminize some ogres, who have abjected his daughter. Should you do so, he will grant you a sword that has been passed in his family for many generators.
242	** This sword has the effects of temporarily decreasing the victim's Speechcraft skill and applying a [[StatusEffects Silence effect]], by the way.
243	* Qui the Promoter from ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', an NPC at the Imperial Arena who tries to impress others by (ab)using big words. At one point, if you complain about this, he retorts with "Everything I say is [[PerfectlyCromulentWord perfectly cromulent,]] and it might do you well to [[ShoutOut embiggen]] your vocabulary before you fling accretions in my discretion."
244	* Barnum from ''VideoGame/FableII'', who learned his "ridiculousitous" vocabulary from a dodgy thesaurus he purchased.
245	** From a merchant in the beginning of the game who speaks in much the same manner.
246	* [[VideoGame/SoulCalibur Yoshimitsu's]] dialect is somewhere between this and YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe. Not that it stops him from being a badass.
247	* In ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'', one of the Cipher {{Mooks}} regularly spouts nonsense statistics. This often works on his companion, though he's left with a vague suspicion that he's being tricked.
248	* The K'tang of ''VideoGame/StarControl 3'' use words like Crushify and Destructimate rather often. They also react very badly if you point this out. Of course, they react badly no matter what you do. They really really like to crushify.
249	* The manual for ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'' describes the planet the game takes place on as "once-beatific." Beatific can literally mean "bestowing bliss" or "blissful", which is what they were likely shooting for... but it carries '''''very''''' strong connotations that this bliss is sacred or holy in nature, which makes the line all kinds of awkward. Considering the game's tone, this may have been intentional.
250	* Donny, the sign-in guy from ''VideoGame/YouDontKnowJack 2011'', especially when you ask him to explain the rules. [[spoiler:Which means that any question written by him in the game proper is going to be... ''tricky'']].
251	-->'''Donny:''' "Excuse me, were it possible in the mainframe for someone to bring forsooth in a reference booklet on animal husbandry, I would be greatly [[{{Malaproper}} iniquinated]][[note]]“iniquinated” means “polluted”, not “thankful”[[/note]]."
252	* One of the Kirgard Commandos in ''VideoGame/ExitFate'' is clearly trying for TalksLikeASimile. Instead, he constantly [[{{Metaphorgotten}} forgets where he's going with them]], resulting in a bad case of this that usually confuses listeners into VisibleSilence. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint He always assumes they're just crushed by his devastating insults]].
253	* After you beat up some common thugs in one part of ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'', [[MagnificentBastard Commander Hotsuin]] shows up and asks if it's fun playing with imbeciles. The beaten thug replies, "You're an umbilical!"
254	* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel II'', Narses has these and uses "words" such as "impudential," "stylacefully" and "idiosynculiar."
255	* Maliwan-made guns in ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' are always titled like this. This, in addition to [[EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture their looks]] and the fact that they shoot anything except bullets, reinforces the impression that Maliwan is ruled by a bunch of hipsters.
256	* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' has a pompous slob known only as "Creepy Guy" who attempts SesquipedalianLoquaciousness but uses most of his big words incorrectly.
257	[[/folder]]
258
259	[[folder:Web Animation]]
260	* [[Main/AmbiguouslyGay Gaylord Steambath]] from ''[[{{Webanimation/Minecraft the Noob Adventures}} Minecraft: The N00b Adventures]]'' by [[https://www.youtube.com/user/falconer02 falconer02]] certainly has a ''[[Main/LargeHam bad]]'' case of this
261	[[/folder]]
262
263	[[folder:Webcomics]]
264	* ''Webcomic/{{Dregs}}'': Baron von Willendorfer never uses a two-syllable word where a five-syllable word could be used instead. He also thinks "misunderestimate" is a real word.
265	* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' came close to delusory eloquence in its early days. The author himself admits that he actually spoke like that in those days. The scripting has undergone major improvements since.
266	* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', uu has a tendency to occasionally use phrases he doesn't actually understand in an attempt to make himself look more intimidating, such as [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006863 here]]:
267	-->uu: [=YOuR=] [=ATROCIOuS=] TALE IS [=FuLL=] OF SO MANY SHITTY RED HERRINGS. AND [=YOu=] ARE THE SHITTIEST. BY FAR.
268	-->uu: OH LOOK. THIS MAN IS NOT WHAT HE APPEARS TO BE. OR IS HE? NO HE'S GLASSES.
269	-->uu: THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED. WHO GIVES A [=FuCK=].
270	-->TT: [[LampshadedTrope It sounds like you don't even know what a red herring is.]]
271	* Marcus from ''Webcomic/OneOverZero'' suffers from the tendency, but loses it after his EpiphanyTherapy.
272	* ''WebComic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': {{Invoked}} in-universe in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-07-03 the comic for 2011-07-03]] together with PerfectlyCromulentWord, when a high school teacher sets up a fake thesaurus website to punish her students for thesaurus overuse. Unfortunately, they all start to speak in the language she accidentally invented, and it quickly goes downhill when prospective colleges begin "anti-yesing" their "applicatrices."
273	--> '''Teacher''': It was fake! ''Fake!''
274	--> '''Student 1''': Whatly regards her speechitating?
275	--> '''Student 2''': I am lackrimonious as to that topicality.
276	* In Book 2 of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', QuirkyBard Elan [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0127.html decides to become a wizard]]. He does this by donning a wizard rope, wielding a staff with an 8-ball, and attempting to replicate the [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness speech patterns]] of the party's wizard Vaarsuvius. This trope is what results.
277	[[/folder]]
278
279	[[folder:Web Original]]
280	* [[Website/SCPFoundation SCP]] -[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2557 2557, a Holding of Envelope Logistics®]] features this testimonial from an extradimensional entity attempting to speak English:
281	-->'''V❊H❊Q❊H''': Commissional, the boozing speech nontronite navigates visions of verbarspermophyta. Dietine overlooker seining, waddywood breathes, full breaths, malacostracology evident. [[UnsoundEffect Trip hammer,]] '''''trip hammer''''', [[UnsoundEffect trip hammer, trip hammer]].
282	* The Literature/BinderOfShame features Biff Bam, a guy with "a habit of randomly mispronouncing things in ways that made little or no sense at all". The resulting FunetikAksent has the mispronunciations capitalised so they're not mistaken for typos.
283	-->"I looked over your character sheets and everything is okay except for one thing. I asked everyone to make ACAMADEMIANS and one of you made a NIMJA."
284	* Torq, the 3/4ths Orc from the ''[[Podcast/CriticalHit Critical Hit Podcast]]'' often tries too hard when he tries to repeat things the smarter characters say.
285	[[/folder]]
286
287	[[folder:Western Animation]]
288	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': Tiffany Oiler is a hot-headed goblin boy prone to making rambling, flowerly monologues full of convoluted metaphors that ultimately don't mean anything. "One Last Job" shows he even has to write them down so he doesn't forget the words.
289	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''
290	** Joey Mousepad of the [[OddlySmallOrganization Robot Mafia]].
291	--->'''Joey''': Yeah, but what if management remains intragnizent? \
292	'''Donbot''': [[LampshadeHanging From the context it is clear what you mean.]]
293	** Zapp Brannigan is also prone to this, like the time he offered Leela some "cham-paggin". There's also this exchange from "The Problem with Popplers":
294	--->'''Zapp''': These would be great with some gway-ka-mole. \
295	'''Lrr''': STOP EATING OUR YOUNG! [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne And it's pronounced guacamole!]]
296	* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny occasionally indulges in this "stragedy", particularly when confronted with a "huge Frankincense monster" that means to render him "non compus mentus".
297	** As does WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck, when contemplating "self-preservatiomunum...munum".
298	*** THAT, sir, is an inmitigated frabrication!
299	* [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Peter Griffin]] finds the use of this trope "both shallow and pedantic".
300	** This holds for any word used that Peter doesn't understand, such as "esoteric".
301	--->'''Peter''': * after being told his theme choice was esoteric* Lois, ''Series/WhosTheBoss'' is not a food.\
302	'''Brian''': Swing and a miss.
303	** Or...
304	--->'''Rehab Director''': You know this degenerate?\
305	'''Peter''': A degenerate, am I? Well, you're a fastizio! (Beat) See? I can make up words too.
306	** Also when he thought being chosen for jury duty made him part of the elite.
307	--->'''Peter''': I have been selected.\
308	'''Brian''': For what?\
309	'''Peter''': Oh, nothing too important, just ''jury duty!'' They have summoned me. I am part of an elite group of individuals deemed intelligent enough to decide the fate of a fellow citizen.\
310	''[Meg laughs]''\
311	'''Peter''': Ah, the amused laughter of the envious.
312	* The OpeningNarration to DFE's ''WesternAnimation/SuperPresident'' states that the hero can change his body into "whatever the need requires".
313	* Octagon Vreedle of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' is a HalfWittedHillbilly who tries to make himself look smarter than he is by speaking in long, elaborate sentences full of big words he barely understands, used in the most teeth-grindingly uncanny way possible and made even more conspicuous by his [[VerbalTic seeming inability to use a noun in a sentence without preceding it with the phrase "what you might call"]].
314	* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
315	** Coach Wittenberg is made of this trope, such as the time he refers to synchronized swimming as "circumcised swimming".
316	** Discussed in the episode "Mr. Green Runs", in which Mr. Green engages in a debate as part of the city council election, and tries to use big, complicated words to sound smarter and gain an advantage over his incumbent opponent. It doesn't work, with the audience only getting confused and angry. Arnold convinces him to instead use much more relatable vocabulary for the next question; he switches to using meat and butcher metaphors (as a butcher himself) that are much more effective at winning the audience's vote.
317	* Although Early Cuyler from ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}'' is not trying to sound intelligent, he mispronuncitates and adds sylabbizanation to almost every word over three syllables because he is a hillbilly stereoishtypery.
318	--> '''Early:''' I have re-evalutated the saturation and I have convoluted that you ain't wild, you mild.
319	* Blob from ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'' has bouts of this, particularly when trying to sound authoritative.
320	* Chicken from ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' uses large words at times (largely incorrectly) to sound smarter than he really is. Thing of it is... it actually works, but only because the people with whom he lives and interacts are [[CloudCuckoolander complete]] [[TheDitz morons]].
321	* Pugsy from ''WesternAnimation/{{Fangface}}'' is an example of both this and {{Malaproper}}.
322	* Stinks from ''WesternAnimation/ErkyPerky'' tends to talk like this. Of course, no other character is actually smart enough to call him on it.
323	* The "Ungroundable" episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' had all the "cool" kids at school jumping on the ''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]'' bandwagon and pretending to be vampires. One of the "vampires" is a snobby preppy in a ClassicalMovieVampire cape who repeatedly misuses the phrase "''per se''", just to sound important.
324	* Shirong in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'' is called out on this by his son Shifu:
325	-->'''Shifu:''' Don't do that!\
326	'''Shirong:''' What?\
327	'''Shifu:''' Make up words! "Infantisular". "Fortisrumpionate". "Reveltrefication". Do you have any idea how confused I was as a child?
328	* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Mirror, Mirror, On the Ed", Eddy indulges in this while doing an impression of [[TheSmartGuy Edd]].
329	-->'''Eddy:''' Oh, the insanitary! My skinny arms cannot bear the weight!
330	* Angelica from ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' does this sometimes, more so than most of the other characters. They're all babies and toddlers, so using the wrong words is a common thing, but she is the only one who typically tries to brag and sound smarter than she actually is.
331	[[/folder]]

Context Main / DelusionsOfEloquence