From the Oxford English Dictionary: "Lexiphanes (Gr) phrase monger (the title of one of Lucian's dialogues), one who uses bombastic phraseology."
Erik Larsen defended his name change of the Aquaman villian "Charybdis" to "Piranha-Man" on the grounds that the redesigned character didn't fit the old name. That I can accept, though I don't much like it. He went on to claim that keeping the name "Charybdis" would, in his words, "perpetuate lexiphanicism". To put that into words that aren't so bombastic, keeping the name "Charybdis" would continue a pompous tradition of naming that Larsen apparently dislikes.
Larsen is entitled to his opinion, I suppose. But I think "Piranha-Man" is a name as silly as "Aquaman" and insulting to a modern audience. Unlike Aquaman, P-M wasn't originally named in the 1940's and grandfathered into current continuity with a silly name. Indeed, the character itself didn't come about until the 1990's, and a name like "Charybdis" is vastly more interesting, vastly more intelligent, and far more sinister than "Piranha-Man".
There is a tendency with the current crop of "writers" to underestimate their audiences' intelligence, and to dumb down comic books to a first-grade reading level. The result is a slap in the face to anyone with even a few brain cells. Even first graders I know feel insulted by the simplicity of some comic books. And yet when a writer dares to write up to his audience instead, he is accused by these other writers of being pompous and self-important. I admit I don't understand this attitude.
Comics have the potential to reach a huge audience, and to teach them. Why else would people use the comic book form in religious pamphlets or land mine warnings? Obviously, many people understand the potential of comics, so why is a willingness to test or expand the minds of your audience in a regular comic book series considered some form of intellectual snobbery?
It doesn't make any sense to me. I'm told that comics are just "funnybooks" and should be treated as such. "Pure entertainment!" said one fan to me, "I don't want anything in them that challenges me!" Why not? Is the current generation incapable of rising to a challenge? Are the lives of fans so boring that they don't even want a little mental excitement in their entertainment? Are we really so stupid that a challenge as small as a name you might have to look up is bad?
Back in the Golden and Silver Ages of comic books, stories were simpler. The writing was sometimes pretty bad, and the stories weren't much of a challenge because they were meant to appeal to small children. But in many stories I find words that no child would know and that even smart kids would have to look up. Comics were lined with shorts that often explained scientific terms or told how to make something for a hobby. Virtually any comic you picked up would have something in it to challenge young minds.
But for some reason, that isn't acceptable any more. Fans are assumed to be idiots who can't even look up a mythical character like Charybdis. Publishers like DC assume that fans are too stupid to understand the concept of parallel Earths. Writers complain that names that sound too similar will be indistinguishable and confusing to their (apparently brain-dead) fans.
And as a fan, I'm insulted by this trend. Maybe some fans are that stupid, but I doubt they make up any sort of majority. So if you are a writer who can't manage to write a challenging story, fine. Take your writing elsewhere, I'm not interested in boring cack. And don't insult writers who do manage to interest and educate their readers. When you do you just prove how little you, and maybe your fans, actually know.