Use it or lose it

"In every rowdy party, where most of the revellers drink with gusto, congeries of teetotalers are to be found. Sometimes there is one in each corner of the room. Dry but controversial discussions are started and sometimes things get heated. Overweening self-righteousness amongst a group tends to lead to acrimony after all. The more rational would speak with impassioned polemics, which the more radical take as pure unctous flummery. Of course, there would also be the happy-go-lucky member whose ludic comments and mimicry would break the tension momentarily. Usually the discussion was something as irrelevant as how we should remunerate the politicians. This kind of subject would drive most to drink in short time."

Well, that was a week of "Word of the Day" words all incorporated into a vaguely sensible story. Don't ask me what happens next.