When I was a little girl my older brother would pick on me, trying to upset me with his misguided opinions. I remember one particular occasion when I was about eight years old. Once again, my brother was teasing me. I consulted with my daddy, sobbing about how my brother wouldn't leave me alone. My dad consoled me, then he asked me to come back in a few minutes, and he'd have a solution for me.
My father got out the dictionary and scripted a response. He instructed me to memorize the response so that I'd be prepared to fight with my words.
The next time my brother picked on me, I calmly and quietly articulated the following: "Rob, you are a pragmatic prevaricator with a propensity for oratorical sonorities that are too pleonastic to be expediently assimilated." When my brother, a dumb look on his face, quickly asked, "What does that mean?" I simply responded "You're a liar." He had nothing witty to say. He knew it was true, and he quickly left the room... It worked!
My scripted response was pleonastic itself, but my 10-year old brother was left speechless, and that moment was priceless. I'll never forget that day, that response, or my father's wisdom in fighting with words.
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Hi, Unless your name is Leslie Brodie, (my babysitter in 1969) you did NOT make up the phrase ''Pragmatic pevaricator etc.'' Leslie taught me that phrase back in 1969, and I assume that she learned it from a teacher in her high-school. So this was already a phrase making the rounds at least back to 1969. Nice try though.
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