The two words I learned today were palliate and turgid.
Palliate is a verb, meaning to make something less serious by offering excuses. From my personal experience, it is closely related with procrastination, where you tell yourself that a chore isn't as important as it really is. My roommate's description of his nightly homework helped to palliate my worry about the essay due Monday.
Turgid is an adjective, meaning swollen or inflated. However, it is more often used to describe over-emphasized, or drawn out speeches. I would infer from the podcast that 'turgid' carries a connotation following closer to pompous, or egotistical.
