Right on the front page. And in an obituary no less. The title of the obit “William F. Buckley Jr., 82, Dies; Sesquipedalian Spark of Right” is (for those of you not in the U.S. and/or old enough to remember him) a play on the fact that Buckley was fond of using words like “sesquipedalian” in his speeches and his columns. He definitely kept Webster’s in business.

I mean I don’t know about you, but I had no idea what ”sesquipedalian” meant - my basic knowledge of Latin got me to “150 footed” (sesqui=150 + pedalian = feet or footed) which clearly was wrong.Dictionary.com to the rescue: Sesquipedalian means “given to using long words” and is derived from some term meaning “words of a foot and a half long” (so I was on the right track. Sort of.)

Regardless, it’s nice to see the Times loosen up a little bit and employ some intellectual humor when appropriate. It’s a lesson many corporate and B2B advertisers should heed, because as an old mentor of mine once said: “Just because people are reading about work, doesn’t mean they want to be bored.” 

And besides, we all just learned a new insult today. 

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