Aren't long words lovely?  They're interesting and challenging, and they make you seem so much more intelligent than your readers when people say "Huh, what does that mean???  They must be bright to use it!"

The reality of course is that if people can't understand what you are writing or saying, then they probably won't want to work with you.  Below are some of our favourite words to understand, but not to use when we are really aiming for "plain speak" or straight forward communication.

• Akimbo
• Badinage
• Baulk
• Behemoth
• Behoove
• Bibulous

• Blimp
• Brouhaha
• Bumptious
• Burlap
• Caboodle
• Cheroot
• Cleat
• Collops
• Concatenation
• Conker
• Costermonger
• Crapulent
• Crepuscular
• Crevice
• Crux
• Cudgel
• Denude
• Desuetude
• Discombobulate
• Dollop
• Farrago
• Finagle
• Flabbergast
• Flange
• Flap
• Flummox
• Fo'c's'le
• Foible
• Frippery
• Funicular
• Haberdashery
• Herbage
• Hoglet
• Hoodwink
• Husk
• Indolent
• Jamboree
• Jonquil
• Kagoul
• Kazoo
• Kerfuffle
• Kiosk
• Lackadaisical
• Lambent
• Lissom
• Lobster
• Ludic
• Mollusc
• Moot
• Nibble
• Oleaginous
• Ooze
• Palimpsest
• Palpate
• Papoose
• Persiflage
• Phantasmagoria
• Plimsoll
• Plinth
• Poltroon
• Ptarmigan
• Punnet
• Pupiparous
• Rambunctious
• Rhythm
• Rootle
• Scamper
• Scintillate
• Serendipity
• Skedaddle
• Slew
• Smidgeon
• Somnambulist
• Soporific
• Spatchcock
• Spatula
• Spigot
• Spool
• Stegophilist
• Strumpet
• Stultify
• Supine
• Susurrus
• Syzygy
• Teleost
• Threnody
• Tmesis
• Trounce
• Truculent
• Tumescent
• Ukulele
• Unctuous
• Unitard
• Uppity

Got that dictionary out yet??