Sometimes I know the meaning of a word but am tired of it and feel the need for an unfamiliar, especially precise or poetic term, perhaps one with a nuance that flatters my readership's exquisite sensitivity.

Adjective salad is delicious, with each element contributing its individual and unique flavor; but a puree of adjective soup tastes yecchy.

The wonderful thing about being a New York Times columnist is that it's like a Supreme Court appointment - they're stuck with you for a long time.

To be accused of 'channeling' is to be dismissed as a ventriloquist's live dummy, derogated at not having a mind of one's own.

The most successful column is one that causes the reader to throw down the paper in a peak of fit.

Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.

It behooves us to avoid archaisms. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.