Fustilarians

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals engaging in disputes or arguments, often characterized by verbose and pretentious rhetoric
2. Those who advocate for the use of obscure or pedantic language, usually seen as ineffectively trivial in discussions
3. Individuals who indulge in quibbling or sophistry, often without contributing meaningfully to a conversation or debate

Etymology: "Fustilarians" is the plural of "fustilarian," and the word itself is a rare one with a shaky pedigree. It is probably built from "fustilugs," a term for an unattractive, grossly overweight person, with the suffix "-arian" attached, the same ending found in words like "librarian" and "humanitarian" that denotes a person associated with something. The link between a heavy, sluggish body and a windy talker is the point of the word's history. "Fustilugs" was a Shakespearean-era insult, and the "-arian" suffix turns that bodily image into a label for a type of person. Shakespeare's Insults, a 2016 study of his abuse, records the sense of "fustilugs" as a slur for someone of unpleasant bulk, which is a long way from quibbling. Because the derivation is only probable, the connection between "fustilugs" and the sense of "sophistry" should be read as a plausible inference rather than documented fact.