[Bobalu]

I'm from the Hemingway school, always endeavor to be understood by the widest possible audience.

Using rictus in a sentence just makes 99% of readers say "What".

That said, I just love the works of William F Buckley Jr.

You read Buckley with a dictionary close at hand.

[Dr. Ursus]

I once watched Buckley debate Allan Lowenstein. They were dropping big words every sentence!

[Daffynition]

So true.

As a kid in college, I watched *Firing Line* w/ a yellow legal pad; jotting down words I had never heard used before; and looked them up later. Often it was like listening to a foreign language. To get the *gist* of what was being said. :)

Greatest joy in watching WFB rip Gore Vidal a new one. And *Airborne* and *Atlantic High* were influential in my brother and me learning to sail and love Celestial Navigation.

On a lighter note, the WFTD on FR is a close cousin to Buckley. And William Safire can be mentioned fondly and reverently in the same breath. Icons of verbiage.