Circumlocution: From the Latin
circum- "around" and -
loquy "speech," literally to talk in circles. Circumlocution is something to be sedulously avoided except by professional humorists, politicians, and husbands who have forgotten anniversaries. It's hard to find good examples of circumlocution because so often what passes is just plain old wordiness. True circumlocution creates a dizzy sensation as if you were following a toy boat in a whirlpool. Schultz' Linus gets off a masterful piece of circumlocution when he tells Charlie Brown, "That
's a terrible feeling to have the need of having the feeling of having..."
