ABSTRUSE/OBTUSE

(A proofreader's note regarding “abstruse” and “obtuse”)

“Abstruse” and “obtuse,” with costumes that confuse,

Follow disparate purviews and missions;

Though each in the other may see an excuse,

As descriptors they serve different passions.

Apart from its use in some specialty areas,

Like geometry, botany, and such,

“Obtuse” as an adjective speaks most of people,

But sometimes on things it will touch.

A Latin ancestor had “blunt” as its meaning,

So “dull” and “not pointed” we find.

But “lacking a quickness or sharpness of intellect”

Likewise is often in mind.

“Obtuse” in its usage extends to describing

A thing that is not clearly stated;

By virtue of this, it comes close to “abstruse,”

But the two words should not be conflated.

The word “comprehensible” conjures the key

To the meanings “abstruse” may adopt;

“Hellacious to understand due to complexity

While clear in expression and apt”;

Thus, “difficult” for persons of normal intelligence

Or “clear to enlightened ones only.”

Instead, with “obtuse,” a deliberate dull-wittedness

Sometimes is meant although phony.

“Remember 'abstract' before choosing 'abstruse'

To misuse of 'obtuse’ make unlikely.”

“If person 'obtuse' should claim things as 'abstruse,'

It's a ruse to refuse—and quite rightly.”