In Quebec, I was told I was using a thousand dollar word (mot de milles dollars) when I called a bunch of troublesome teens
«les mécréants».
I invented my own likely source of the expression years before ($10 word, that is) as being "the cost of a fine that you would pay in court for saying a word that made the judge feel that you were talking down to him or her."
Absolutely no basis in truth, but it fit my world.
