I must be getting old. I appreciate your sentiment, but at no time have I used language that exceeds the writing ability of a high school graduate, at least when and where I graduated. (Which would have been considered unacceptable, apparently, by emarine's standards, since we were taught condescending writing sk**ls, and the use of not "big words," but expensive ones, that being the connotation of "two dollar words." Note that the high school I graduated from these many decades agone would have been considered primitive by today's standards, teaching such outmoded sk**ls as spelling, vocabulary, sentence construction, and other outmoded subjects. This same benighted institution also managed to cram trigonometry, chemistry, biology and basic physics into the curriculum, which subjects were required for graduation. The graduation rate was over 90%. If a self proclaimed engineering graduate needs help with a high school level vocabulary, and takes umbrage because myself and some others do not, that is not my problem. If someone needs a dictionary to decipher what used to be high school level vocabulary, wouldn't you say it's about time they resorted to one?

Lets try this one more time,First was emarine, than Lou , GinnyT and now I reiterate Ginny,
"When we use words that your audience must use a dictionary to discern your meaning, you are not communicating. It is appropriate to lace your writing with unfamiliar words when speaking with adults and you are trying to covey a thought or principal it is best that your reader not have to look up the words. For one, if the person has to be taught a word then they are less focused on the message. I am not saying that a person who has a large vocabulary should not write in their comfort, rather be mindful of the receiver".
This all hinges on whether you want to impress or communicate. This is why I believe newspapers write at a sixth grade level. It is important that they get their message across.

Lets try this one more time,First was emarine, than Lou , GinnyT and now I reiterate Ginny,
"When we use words that your audience must use a dictionary to discern your meaning, you are not communicating. It is appropriate to lace your writing with unfamiliar words when speaking with adults and you are trying to covey a thought or principal it is best that your reader not have to look up the words. For one, if the person has to be taught a word then they are less focused on the message. I am not saying that a person who has a large vocabulary should not write in their comfort, rather be mindful of the receiver".
This all hinges on whether you want to impress or communicate. This is why I believe newspapers write at a sixth grade level. It is important that they get their message across.

Mr. Maelstrom. You are not quiet right on your "that was 1776." The correct date was 1787; eleven yrs later. You need to get the facts right because those two dates are relative to different events in the formation of this country. In the 1700s the population was as diverse as it is today. Just as heated and debated. It is had to fathom how they came together and formed a constitution. Do you think it could happen today? The constitution was the result of a comprise. I suggest that if any one wanted to learn about the ideas of that time relative to the constitution read the federalist papers.