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I have to mention the elephant in the room - how you, kragen, habitually write e.g. "01888" when "1888" will do — you "choose a polysyllabic and fuzzy word when a simple and clear one is better".

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Y10K proofing. It's a practice of the Long Now Foundation:

https://longnow.org/ideas/02013/12/31/long-now-years-five-di...

Regardless of what it's for, writing 5 digit years is the kind of choice that makes your writing "ooze pretentiousness" just like choosing to use hundred dollar words last seen a century ago.

Nah. It's a little conceit. It's a small dash of eccentricity to add spice to an unusual point. It invites one to ask the question, "why do you habitually use 5 digit years?"

You, on the other hand, are veering directly into ad-hom and that's not nice. We can talk about how we like to use language without calling out other peoples' language choices.

I venture to aver, you pusillanimous chop-logic, that upon undertaking to investigate the situation in greater profundity, you would in all likelihood discover that you are taking the entire thing entirely too seriously!

Rule 00005!

Poe's Law in action. Any elaborate parody not clearly marked as such will be taken seriously by someone.

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