Douglas:
It is interesting how we always seem to find a different opinion
on this list. I remember the passage quoted from Metalsmith
because it gave me the best laugh I’ve had in a while. The
adjectives “precious”, “obfuscatory”, “intellectualized” and
"pedantic" come to mind. I have to respectfully differ with you.
The passage may parse and there may actually be a point to it,
but I think the writer is conveying a sense of his own importance
more than much else. I love words and their elegant use. I
think Thomas Wolfe, that prose poet, the finest of writers. But
self-important gobbledygook is just that. I think the writer in a
context like that could make his point much more simply.
On the same subject, a recent article on going to the source for
Ametrine in Bead Journal (LJ) seemed inflated with its own
importance and the GREAT ROMANTIC ADVENTURE of (oh, it’s so
exciting!) actually mining for gems in a foreign land.