arbitrary vs arty-farty

arbitrary

adj
  • Not representative or symbolic; not iconic. 

  • Determined by independent arbiter. 

  • Determined by impulse rather than reason; heavy-handed. 

  • Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random. 

  • Any, out of all that are possible. 

noun
  • Anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee. 

arty-farty

adj
  • Pretentiously artistic; self-important or self-indulgent, especially when describing an artistic project. 

noun
  • Someone who is arty-farty. 

How often have the words arbitrary and arty-farty occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )