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I'd like to have reopened https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/180112/when-are-big-words-needed, so how can it be improved or emended, if at all?

I exemplified with 8 examples, but are these too numerous? My main question concerns the necessity of bombastic words.

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    I don't really see how any amount of editing can get around the fact that the underlying question is Too Broad. The only reasonably comprehensive answer I can think of of "Use an unnecessarily impressive/obscure vocabulary when you want to sound impressive/obscure, and/or you don't care if some people think you're being pompous".
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 21, 2014 at 16:20
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    @FumbleFingers: agreed. but where else in the world could the OP ask his question and expect people to be able to answer well? What's wrong with letting him ask here (where the community may have lots of different opinions about it)? So what if that doesn't fit well with Q&A? I'm not convinced either direction.
    – Mitch
    Commented Jun 21, 2014 at 17:22
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    @Mitch: ELU is under no obligation to accept and answer unsuitable questions simply because the asker can't find any better place to post.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 22, 2014 at 13:36

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I'm afraid I think this question isn't a good fit for a Stack Exchange site. Essentially you have asked

are there any valid reasons

to which the answer must be "Yes", or the words would never be used.

Whether a reason is valid or not is entirely subjective: the author must have a reason he believes to be valid. But the only way to find out what that reason is — so that one might form one's own subjective opinion of it — is to ask him, not the internet in general.

There is the minor point that some of your comparisons are unusual. I wouldn't have paired endure with brook/countenance, for example.

But on the whole, it is a discussion question. It's not a bad discussion question, but because it's a discussion question it's not suited to the SE format.

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  • If someone wants to write an answer justifying a vote to re-open, I'm prepared to be persuaded!
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Commented Jun 21, 2014 at 16:39
  • @ Andrew: Never say never, but I'm more comfortable upvoting your answer rather than your comment.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 23, 2014 at 13:43
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Could you not change the question to something like 'Under what circumstances is erudite grandiloquence more suited to the message than colloquial brevity?'

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