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(A proofreader's note regarding “portentous” and “pretentious”)
“Portentous,” related to “portent,”
Is never pronounced as portentious.
“Pretentious” may be the intention,
For “pretense” is thusly egregious.
Since portents are signs or omens,
“Portentous” relates to “momentous”
Though just as like to “ominous,”
While stretching in wonder to “pompous.”
Importance implied by “momentous”
Relates to a nature most serious;
“Portentous” may speak of a person
Who seeks to impress as prodigious.
This self-importance a basis
May find in real life for that person.
Instead, for the merely “pretentious,”
It's dream or pretense beyond reason.
Affectedly arrogant, haughty
Are synonyms two of many.
The key to “pretentious” is falsity,
Of truth it’s natch the enemy.