Express Yourself

I know most people hate polysyllabic words. I agree that sometimes the best form of communication is a grunt and hand gesture, but sometimes it's nice to have a vocabulary.
On the other hand, some words have no excuse for existing. Like 'supercilious.' Not only does it sound stupid, but goofs that use it have to go way out of their way to make up a sentence to use it in. It was invented as slang in the 1930's and should have died a quiet death along with the zoot suit, but no, it still occasionally turns up on the printed page.
Some words have to exist, but they don't have to sound as stupid as they do. Pick up any medical book and you'll find a thousand of them. They were invented back when education was a cult that intentionally excluded anyone who couldn't afford to be abused by...oops...supercilious professors.
Sometimes it works the other way around. Those long, unpronounceable words on food labels are what everyone gets so alarmed about so the food industry uses the term 'natural flavor.' That way you don't have to wonder how something that tastes like vanilla came from fir tree lignon.
My niece, Morgan, spent a lot of time last year memorizing the genus and species names of animals. But she was eleven years old, so what else was there to do?
The new vocabulary invented for computers is so clever that it rates as poetry. Simple, but extremely appropriate words like virus, internet,software, demon, and do-loop. Others are stupid, like 'blog.' I wish we could have a do-over on that one. Most terms are short and sweet.
But that doesn't mean all words should be. Nothing kills my appetite faster than being offered a 'veggie' sandwich. Really? You can't be bothered to pronounce three syllables?
And who isn't fed up with the endless acronyms? And acronym is a stupid word too, but stupid term for stupid practice. Every time I hear one, I have the urge to make a hand gesture and grunt.
Nancy Sherer