Big Words - Make You Sound Smart?

Feel better? I often do after a rant. It's therapeutic, no?

 

Yes, this is exactly what I meant. Get outta my head!

 

If I am speaking publicly to a bunch of farmer's wives I would not use fancy or exaggerated words. If I was speaking to an inner city bunch of women I would not use country slang or country dialect (there are some pretty big words there too). If I am talking to a country club group I would not use words that were styles of other groups of people.

It shows respect to the person or individuals you are speaking/writing or addressing to use words that they do not have to go look up in the dictionary or shrug their shoulds in non understanding. It has been my opinion that people who use fancy and exaggerated words all of the time or in situations that do not warrant them - this person is trying to sound superior and more intelligent than the person(s) he / she is addressing.

When I speak to my Arab friends; I do curve my language to help them understand especially if my friend's English skills are not as polished as others. And most of my friends are Master Educated or above - so there is no dumbing down just using easy to understand words and simple words. And vice versa as my Arabic is not well and they use words easy to understand and/or translate. Respect is the key.

When my surgeon speaks to me and he is head of a major university and oto department...he doesn't use fancy medical words - he addresses me and talks to me in plain English and if he does use a medical term - he looks it up for me and shows me what it means on the computer. He's not dumbing down when he speaks to me he is being respectful or our difference and my lack of medical education.

I have never dumbed down nor been ashamed of my education. However, there is a time and place for words and those words should be spoken or written at the level of the person/speaker/author's audience or person in conversation.

I like words; I like unusual and different words. But I don't use them in every day conversation.

 

When I was a child, I was the youngest of 7 people in the house. We had adult conversations (or so it seemed to me) at the dinner table. I remember one day, fussing at my mother because she used a word I didn't know. I wanted her to use a word I did know. She offered to explain the word to me but I was adamant, no just use words I know! Alas, in those days, kids didn't win those kinds of wars. I imagine my emtional self might have been stronger had she catered to me but I believe my intellect flourished because she didn't. I had to reach to be part of the conversation so I did. I remember the same feeling at the table when I lived for a few weeks with a Belgian family. They spoke French and the parents absolutely did not speak English to me because they assumed I was there to learn French. And they were right. It was such hard work listening but I actually learned to understand French.

So I think it depends on the purpose of the speech. If you are speaking because you really want people to know what you are saying you use words you imagine most of them are familiar with. If you want to teach and your listeners want to learn, then use the correct language for the subject.

Politician - use their language, teacher, use yours but don't expect a lot of votes.

 

thank you June - again you said what I was trying to say...

My father had an eighth grade education and eventually graduated high school years after I was born. However, if in conversation, there was a word used by a family member and I didn't understand, he'd have me go to the dictionary or enc. to look it up - and I was very young when he started. He was not educated but a very smart man.

 

Yes he was smart and he might not have gone to school many years but he was educated too.

 

yes he is educated - self educated went from being a janitor to a plant manager ... a marvelous carpenter - builds and flips houses - all self taught -

 

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I apologize if I have offended. Perhaps I should clarify. I recognize the need to suit your speaking style to your audience. That is something I do, and your right, it is a sign of respect. When I talk to my child, I'm not going to spout a list of words that go right over his head. However, I'm also not going to demean him by talking beneath his level either.

I hope that made sense.

 

Kudos to your dad! There's this assumption some people tend to make that if you're uneducated then you can't communicate very well or that if you use "big words" (whatever that means to each one of us), then you are arrogant or conceited.

Can't people use big words AND be intelligent AND considerate too? (or is that somehow threatening?)

I wonder.

We all realize that it's not OK to talk down to someone who doesn't understand what you're saying. Like Tara...I believed that was a given. Like Tara, I perhaps erroneously assumed that the folks on this forum were both smart and literate( given the research they do for their condition, the doctors and specialists they speak to and the talents they have)...not the kind who would take offense to big words or big concepts. Maybe I am wrong. Again, I wonder.

The strange thing is we can all have our opinions about others based on our subjective viewpoints which most often are totally off base and untrue. We know what we want to know. We take in information that is mostly relevant to us and supports our stereotypes...even the most spiritually elevated among us are guilty of this

Obviously the usage of big words impacts all of us in different ways based on our experiences and circumstances.

 

I think everyone here is intelligent. I think having to be our own advocate makes us a lot more so. And I don't think though, that anyone is really against big words, per se, so much as they are against using them just to use them, you know? I think that there are some people who use them to feel smart, and some who use them because it's just how they've always talked. And now I think I'm rambling, so I'll stop.

 

lol - i am chuckling - no offense dear girl - i understand what you are saying and i get tongue tied as well ...

 

bravo....words are cheap...but oh how they can cut thru a person just as the ak-47 that tore thru my son...

 

Words are not threatening to me actions can be but not mere words - although they can hurt - the only value given to the words spoken by a person is the value of that person. If I don't admire/respect an individual than there words hold little value to me and vice versa.

 

I thought about what you wrote and I don't think intelligence or education or long descriptive words are threatening to people; most people do not have a great command of the language and if you wish to have a successful communication with someone then you must identify their levels of command of English and then modify or adjust your skills accordingly. If you do not; you will lose your audience, readers, or the person you are trying to communicate with.

I just personally do no think that all situations warrant our display, knowledge or use of such words and in fact when some people use them they appear to me to be false and / or flippant and/or just plain silly.

If a person really feels the need to sound impressive or knowledgeable - then go for it. To me it does not matter one way or the other; because if I do not understand you I will stop and ask what the word means and / or what you are trying to say.

Intelligence and words should never be used against someone or to make someone feel inferior. I am guilty of all of the above that I just wrote. The higher education I received the more I placed value upon someone by their education levels and command of English and their ability to use it. Because in younger years, I could .... well I had a skewed opinion and skewed value system...ever since being diagnosed with SCD and MM and not being able to complete my doctorate degree did I begin to see my error and and biased and prejudiced thinking. I used to think having initial after my name meant I was somebody or someone who commaneded respect. Boy was I wrong...

 

sorry for the grammar an d spelling - I am just way exhausted and too tired to fix my words/writing

 

Is it possible that, rather than placing more value upon people, you were perhaps more equipped to catch on to more concepts and language?

Learning takes place in steps...usually the more we learn the more we comprehend.

Do you think this is what might have happened with you?

Generally speaking, I really enjoy learning new words, new concepts, new languages, new expressions. It's a lifelong thing. When I was little, I'd curl up in bed with my mother and sister and we'd read our books; that is where my love of learning began. Even today although we are in different continents and don't see one another, our phone calls are full of exchanges on what we've read or things we found out etc.

I cherish moments with people who know more than me.....even if sometimes they are pompous asses (like some of my professors!) I can cut through that and take away what is of interest to me. I tend to do that with everything...sometimes the message is way more important than the messenger....unless both the messenger and the message are not worth my time or interest.

 

I re-read your reply and this jumped out at me. I think it depends on how much one believes one's identity is tied up in those two or three little words. If it were to be that way for someone, think of how low their self esteem had to be in the first place. On the other hand, those two or three little letters can have profound meaning because the knowledge you gained allows you to be of more service to others perhaps. We have doctors, researchers, psychologists, professors, teachers, pilots, our Presidents, perhaps our very own parents who have worked extremely hard at gaining a body of knowledge that enables them to do so much more with it.

Personally I think education is one of the main things that can bring someone out of their holes, unite people, help people, reach people as well as allow us to have a deeper understanding of ourselves, of what came before us and perhaps what lies ahead.

I don't see it the same way you do; maybe we have different interpretations? I don't know. One of the earliest things I learned as a child was Mahatma Gandhi's concept of dignity of labor. There is dignity in all kinds of jobs and all people who perform them because it is an attitude we carry within us. The same goes for words, education, a Master's, a Ph.D, an M.D. etc. I don't see it as prideful or arrogant or conceited....maybe just on the part of those who never had the opportunity? You know the whole grapes are sour thing?

I'm sure you worked hard to get to where you got in terms of your education. Your body of words has helped you write your story and history. Your disease(s) have slowed you down perhaps but not diminished you on an intellectual level. Once you know something, you know it...even if it may take a while to bring it to the forefront.

 

I agree with most of what you wrote but the last sentences/paragraphs are spot on...I too believe education is the key to a lot of things - but education in tech schools and other non university settings are just as important as those wishing to obtain a bach. or masters... etc.

My mind is most spent and I am to beg leave of this thread soon - I have a date with a charming man - my son - I am to check on him and make sure his wounds are healing - when I miss him and am reminded of his gunshot wounds and how he was shot in the chest - I hold his purple heart...and at that moment - education and words really have little meaning...I just thank God for the people who designed and put together his armour....hugs/prayers - thank you all so very much for keeping this thread civil and well non offensive.

 

Hugs, prayers and safe passage Aladdin.