Impecunious: SAY WHAT?

I went to a meeting earlier this week at a law firm whose office space is more palatial and grand than any place I have ever been in my entire life.  And I'm not exaggerating.  Think "fancy".  Then put "fancy" on some serious steroids.  Here's a picture of the entrance to the lobby from the elevator bank (thanks to one of my former law students for posing for this pic).  Do you see this?  You have to walk through a space age looking thing to get in and out of the ELEVATOR LOBBY.

That's where I was.  With a bunch of really, really intelligent people -- many of whom are in academia and have a lot of time to pontificate on nuances of the finer points of law that, frankly, make little difference to those of us more basic lawyers who are actually getting dirty in the trenches.  Lawyers like me, who are handling cases against real adversaries in front of real trial judges in real courtrooms in real counties all throughout this great state of ours.  I have no time to pontificate. 

Hell.  I have no time for anything.  I'm the woman who forgot to pick up her son's birthday cake from the bakery.

Ooops.  Good thing he'll never know.  Unless, of course, he reads this blog.  He's only 1 so the chances of that are slim.  For now.

Back to my point.  During the presentation at this fancy pants meeting I had the privilege of attending (and it was certainly a privilege to hob-nob with these very smart people), one of the older lawyers gave a very passionate speech about our obligations as lawyers to help impecunious people.  When he used that term, I immediately looked around to see if everyone was as confused as I was.  Did everyone know this word?  Am I the only dumbass in the room?  That appeared to be the case. . . as everyone was nodding in agreement.  It intrigued me.  And it scared me.  Are these people really this far out of my league? That they speak in a language that is so foreign that it may as well be. . .well  . . . foreign.

I had to call my sister to give myself a reality check.  She's in college.  And she's very well read -- I figured she would be a good "test" to figure out if I really am the only dumbass in the room.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:        "Hey, sister.  What's up?  Do you know what the f&*ck 'impecunious' means?"
Sister:     "Ummmm.  Are you speaking English?"  [Banging phone on table to ensure we have an appropriate connection and she heard me correctly.]

Sigh of relief.  At least we're a family of dumbasses.

Of course, I get to my office the next day and quiz two of my partners about the word.  They both knew what it means.  And they looked bored and not particularly amused by my lack of knowledge.  Do you know what it means?  I'll tell you what it means. 
im·pe·cu·nious

adj \ˌim-pi-ˈkyü-nyəs, -nē-əs\

Definition of IMPECUNIOUS

: having very little or no money usually habitually : penniless

— im·pe·cu·ni·os·i·ty \-ˌkyü-nē-ˈä-sə-tē\ noun

— im·pe·cu·nious·ly adverb

— im·pe·cu·nious·ness noun

 

So my question is:  why didn't the speaker just use "broke" or "poor" or "lacking in resources".  Why would he have to use a word with an origin in 1590?  Haven't we come up with newer, better words in the past 420 years?  And why do my partners know what this word means and I do not?  (Yes, I know that's more than one question.)

 

Probably because People Magazine and Matt Lauer (my prominent news sources) don't use terms like "impecunious."  Maybe I should re-think what I'm doing in my spare time.

 

Wait.  I don't have any spare time.

 

I have this instead.

 

 

And I wouldn't have it any other way.