I have been subject of a similar critique in a professional setting. My response was to ask if they also contacted the authors of books to use more primitive words when they failed to understand the text. I love to hear or read unusual words and my first instinct is to reach for a dictionary or if it's slang it's often fun to play with the words. We want our audience to understand us but removing the flourishes sterilises language in the way that a patent lawyer renders a text into very precise but ultimately joyless verbiage.