The dangers of a thesaurus

So, as those of you who are my friends on facebook will know, I'm currently knee-deep into writing my PhD thesis. During this process, I have been rediscovering quite how useful a thesaurus can be (when I'm wanting to write "variation" or "however" for the millionth time!)

However, having been watching a lot of Friends episodes over Easter (I'd forgotten quite how hilarious it is), I now can't help thinking of a certain episode whenever I reach for this useful book...you know the one; the episode where Joey is trying to write a letter of recommendation for Monica and Chandler for the adoption agency:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s0LqZMsfTQ


Monica: It doesn't make any sense.
Joey: Of course it does. It's smart! I used a thesaurus!
Chandler: On every word?
Joey: Yep.
Monica: All right, what was this sentence, originally?
Joey: Oh. "They're warm, nice people with big hearts."
Chandler: And that became, "They're humid, prepossessing Homo sapiens with full-sized aortic pumps?"

(Transcription edited from http://www.friends-tv.org/zz1005.html)