Word of the Day

Discovered while checking definition of "tutelaire" in a crappy old paperback French-English/English-French dictionary:

unijambiste adj one-legged || mf one-legged person

Why does this sound so much more diginified than "one-legged"? I feel like I could toss off "Je suis un unijambiste" as insouciantly as "I'm a tobogganer" or some other sport or enthusiasm. Either one would be a lie, though.