This might be really obvious to everyone else, but I just realized why Milchick is so focused on his big words.

I feel like a dumbdumb but it just felt weird that Milchick is called out for using big words, when all of the higher-ranking Lumon folk do exactly the same thing. We hear Cobel use words like "chicanery" for instance, and clearly she never stopped that habit while she was at Lumon. The Egans often do it or use weird archaic words in place of more common ones, so why is Milchick called out?

Burt even comes out and says it: "they were very particular about language."

Oh.

They're telling Milchick that he isn't one of them. They want him to very literally see himself in Kier, but not for one second think he's part of the family. "Use small words, we wouldn't want you thinking you're above your station." And clearly it's something that is important to Milchick, maybe he's never had a real family or been accepted, and he's willing to go against the grain to get that acceptance in whatever form he can find.

It feels pretty obvious in hindsight, but sometimes I can't tell if the weird shit is intentional or just set dressing. This feels very intentional.