I feel that our vocabulary has taken a rather hard hit these days.
When I was a young person, I read voraciously and it was not uncommon for my friends to ask me what I was saying. Didn't do much for my popularity, but definitely helped on my standardized test scores. Intrigingly enough, where I found my sylabic number plummet was with the advent of texting … which, btw, I adore. Txting means I am brief and to the point … however, before multipage texts, when limited to 240 characters, I found myself using progressively smaller words and simpler phrases. I do not tweet, because that would positively be the end of my ever declining and thinning use of interesting words.
For your pleasure, I will leave you with a few delightful, but rarely used words.
Pulchritude
Sacrosanct
Antidiluvian
All three were used in an episode of a show I was watching. Sacrosanct I knew, but I had to look the other two up! : )