His prose was dense but not difficult, erudite but not pretentious; as an observer of human behavior he was both ruthless and generous, acknowledging characters' finer attributes but homing in on their foibles.
An ancient history buff and a keen observer of social behavior, Mr. Fisher created cartoons that managed to be erudite without being pretentious, requiring both a general recognition of the history of the world and a healthy appreciation of irony.
The character is portrayed as ill-tempered, pretentious, and cynical, and strongly despises his neighbors for their constant boisterous, noisy behavior.
During the making of the film, there is pretentious talk about the Heisenberg effect in documentary filmmaking: the obvious fact that a subject's behavior changes while under observation.
On the arrogance of America, one of the ayatollah's favorite themes: The behavior and remarks of the American government and officials concerning this incident were very arrogant and pretentious and continue to be so.
For all of us, an unfortunate part of being alive is behavior that we would have to acknowledge, however reluctantly, as sick or dysfunctional (to use the more pretentious and clinical-sounding term that has become fashionable).
