‘Al Pacino Would Understand That Word’
In the Psyche essay, the writer recalls the work starting with proofreading: the letters the writer's mother sent to celebrities, asking them to intervene in the vast and ever-expanding conspiracy she believed had been orchestrated against her.
The word that set off the next letter came from a magazine feature called ‘It Pays to Increase Your Word Power,’ a list of ten little-used words. The third item, ‘sesquipedalianism,’ got a laugh once the definition landed: using a big word when a small one would do.
The mother read it very differently: Al Pacino would understand that word, she said, and a letter should be written to him. He would be able to put a stop to this, she added, and the letter had better use that ‘seis-qui-whatever’ word.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Sesquipedalianism enacts its own definition — a big word naming the habit of big words — which makes it a fine third entry in a list of ten little-used ones. And the plan that follows is stranger and better than the joke: of everyone who might grasp the word, Al Pacino is the one to write to.
The comedy has floorboards under it. The writer says the paranoia became understandable only once it was translated onto the page, and the celebrity appeals she sent, with the writer proofreading, look like that translation with a mailing address on it.