Went a little overboard last night in a discussion about vocabulary. I'd used the phrase "gonzo journalism" (while bashing the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) only to be met with blank stares and, soon enough, mockery.

It does bug me a little when people don't know fairly common words and phrases ("black squirrel" being the most recent groan-inducer), because a limited vocabulary is usually a sign that someone has read few (or very similar) books. And I like books.

Really, though, I have no problem with people who don't know words. Almost everyone I know has a good story about my occasionally spotty vocabulary (although the Lawrentians have, by far, the most embarrassing story to tell) and I'm not so proud as to not ask for a definition when I need one. Anyone who's willing to similarly admit his own ignorance has my respect.

But on Friday I found myself taking an increasingly elitist stance, mostly because I'd decided that it was easier to have my views dismissed as pretentious or elitist than to waste time arguing with Jonas, whose debating style can be irritating.

Like (almost) every member of the Lawrentian ed board, I'm an elitist when it comes to academic standards. But the elitist claims I made Friday (most odious in my mind: that vocabulary gaps bother me because I thought I was going to a better school, an unjustifiable slur) don't have much to do with the frustration I was feeling.

More than the momentary annoyance of not being understood, what bothered me — and will continue to bother me, every time it happens — is the anti-intellectual response I received.

You can make fun of me for using big words pretentiously (some words, like solipsism and opprobrium, belong only in academic writing). You can make fun of me for using big words incorrectly (just because a word like yonder is fun to say doesn't mean you can disregard its meaning). You can make fun of me for glaring mispronunciations of words it's obvious I've only read in books.

But, unless you actually think I'm using a word just to make you feel stupid (something I rarely have the malice or the guts to do), you've no right to make fun of me because you don't understand what I'm saying.

I'm not ashamed of my vocabulary, and I won't tolerate that sort of anti-intellectualism. I want you to understand, and I'll gladly elaborate if there's any confusion.

I may have thought it was fun that a certain anonymous Lawrentian didn't know what a black squirrel was, but since (as I well know) the whims of fate can result in some very embarrassing vocabulary gaps, I'm not about to hold it against him/her.

The Lawrentian asked, we explained, and words once again became a medium for communication instead of an obstacle. If only it could always be that easy.