The obituary for William F. Buckley Jr. that appeared in today’s New York Times made the following observation:

Mr. Buckley’s vocabulary, sparkling with phrases from distant eras and described in newspaper and magazine profiles as sesquipedalian (characterized by the use of long words) became the stuff of legend. Less kind commentators called him “pleonastic” (use of more words than necessary).

Those of us who consider ourselves the former certainly hope that we’re not coming off as the latter!