# Why do (smart) people use big words? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 26, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862 "2017-10-26T01:31:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/1 "2017-10-26T01:31:30Z")
Is it innate with higher intelligence to use a wider set of language or is it mostly pretentiousness? Are people who use big words actually smarter than the rest of us? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/2 "2017-10-26T01:32:58Z")
Is it mostly what now? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/3 "2017-10-26T01:35:24Z")
Some words are just a better fit for describing a situation, having a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’, or conveying more meaning, nuance, and mood. Or just grunt and point, I don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/4 "2017-10-26T01:44:38Z")
Some people are just doing it to be pretentious. Excuse me, I meant to say some people are just doing it to show off. Other people see there are subtle differences between similar words and choose the one that they feel fits best. For example, a person can show off by lighting their farts. But you can’t be pretentious by lighting your farts. So being pretentious and showing off are not the same thing and the two terms are not interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/5 "2017-10-26T01:47:46Z")
An expanded vocabulary allows one to convey ideas succinctly. The ones that ramble on with (or without) big words are idiots and/or trying to show off. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/6 "2017-10-26T01:53:50Z")
I’d say familiarity with such words in their social circles is the reason. It is just ‘their’ normal. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/7 "2017-10-26T02:01:33Z")
One of my favorite quotes is from Mark Twain: “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lighting and the lightning bug.” Some times the bigger word is the righter one, some times it isn’t. It is just that more educated people tend to have a bigger vocabulary to draw from. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/8 "2017-10-26T02:02:09Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Is it innate with higher intelligence to use a wider set of language or is it mostly pretentiousness? Are people who use big words actually smarter than the rest of us? Who are ‘us’, you philistine!! Honestly, as with most things, it depends. A lot of folks I know who use ‘big words’ are simply well read…so, they aren’t trying to be pretentious, it’s just the way they think. Often, a ‘big word’ fits with the idea someone is trying to convey better than a bunch of small words. On this board, I usually associate someone who uses ‘big words’ with a professional…usually a doctor (or having a doctorate) or a lawyer (we seem to have them by the bushel basket around here for some reason :p) or engineer of some type. It’s not that they are smarter than the rest of us mere mortals, they are mainly better educated. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/9 "2017-10-26T02:04:49Z")
I think most people use whatever words are knocking around in their brain. Some people just have more words cluttering up their minds than others. The guy who writes xkcd did an interesting experiment in describing complex ideas with a very small vocabulary. Here it is: > **[Up Goer Five](https://xkcd.com/1133/)** > > Another thing that is a bad problem is if you're flying toward space and the parts start to fall off your space car in the wrong order. If that happens, it means you won't go to space today, or maybe ever. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/10 "2017-10-26T02:04:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Some people are just doing it to be pretentious. Pretentious? Moi?! (thank you, Fawlty Towers) > [@Kancibird](#): > > I’d say familiarity with such words in their social circles is the reason. It is just ‘their’ normal. Definitely not the case for me, at least as child. I was the odd one in my neighborhood for having and using a higher level vocabulary as a kid. It was because I read a lot. Other kids’ reactions ran the gamut - some mocked me, others expressed admiration. To me, it was (and still is) just the way I thought and spoke. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/11 "2017-10-26T02:17:54Z")
There certainly is sometimes a tendency to use the long word just because it’s long, even when it isn’t quite the right word. For instance, “escape velocity” gets over 1.2 million Google hits, while “escape speed” gets less than a tenth as many, even though the latter is actually correct (and shorter). ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/12 "2017-10-26T02:31:44Z")
On a related topic, there is an idiotic movie/TV trope where “smart” people signal how smart they are by giving numbers to a ridiculously inappropriate number of significant figures. Along the lines of Mr Spock saying something like “Captain, the probability that we survive the attack of the giant bald head floating in space that I have never seen before is 43.2147%.” This sometimes seems to carry over into real life. Of course, _actual_ smart people use an appropriate number of significant figures. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/13 "2017-10-26T02:34:47Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Is it innate with higher intelligence to use a wider set of language or is it mostly pretentiousness? Are people who use big words actually smarter than the rest of us? Using a larger vocabulary is correlated with socioeconomic class and with level of education, but I’m not aware that it’s correlated with intelligence. Interestingly, I have also read that it correlates with dialect/variant. Speakers of Hiberno-English, for example, tend to employ a significantly larger vocabulary than do speakers of most variants of British English. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/14 "2017-10-26T02:44:07Z")
I’ve had at least one person remark that I use big words. It’s not to show off; I assume that the person I’m talking to also knows the words I use. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/15 "2017-10-26T03:08:19Z")
> **[Relationship between intelligence and vocabulary - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15773700/)** > > This study explored the correlations of scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III in screening language problems and scores on the three Comprehensive Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test subscales. Participants were 243 students... > [@](#): > > This study explored the correlations of scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III in screening language problems and scores on the three Comprehensive Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test subscales. Participants were 243 students ages 6 to 17 years in Grades K-11 who were identified as learning disabled, learning disabled with speech impairment, mentally retarded, and speech impaired. Analysis indicated strong correlations between the two measures, particularly between the CREVT General Vocabulary and WISC-III Verbal IQ (r = .80), WISC-III Verbal Comprehension Index (r =.83), and the Vocabulary subtest (r =.76). These results held across the grades. Supporting earlier studies of relationships of Verbal IQ and Receptive Vocabulary, correlations were lower between participants in Grades K through 2 than those in higher grades on the WISC-III Verbal IQ and the Receptive Vocabulary subtest. An analysis of the accuracy of the WISC-III for classifying students with language problems indicated improvement in classification over chance. These findings suggest that the WISC-III may be an effective screen for language problems. That is in people who have learning disabilities though, not among people with above average intelligence. Crystallized intelligence (all the data you’ve amassed over the years) is correlated with fluid intelligence (ability to understand concepts, aka IQ). So I guess that could also explain it, higher fluid intelligence means higher crystallized intelligence which among other things means more words in your vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/16 "2017-10-26T03:15:30Z")
I will say about big words the same thing I say about farts. “They’re in me and they must come out.” ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/17 "2017-10-26T03:23:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For instance, “escape velocity” gets over 1.2 million Google hits, while “escape speed” gets less than a tenth as many, even though the latter is actually correct (and shorter). Nitpick: I’d say that’s only 50% correct. If your velocity vector is pointing below the tangent plane, you’ll crash immediately (on a sphere or anything that has a tangent plane) before you go anywhere let alone escape. I guess if you’re already in the air, you have a bit more leeway so a bit more than 50% ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/18 "2017-10-26T03:30:32Z")
I suspect that many people use “show off” words simply because they know the words without realizing that their audience does not. I was in a data center, surrounded by recent college graduates, and brought down the wrath of a dozen or so of them when I noted that we were having a surfeit of problems that week. I was soundly criticized for using surfeit. I pointed out that it was not a big word, having only two syllables and seven letters, but I was still accused of trying to show off with big words. I went home, that night, and turned on The Muppet Movie on TV, (hardly a BBC import on PBS), only to encounter Mel Brooks using the same word in a kids show. _meh_ ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/19 "2017-10-26T03:31:40Z")
This thread, however, does not appear to have actually turned into a debate. I am sending it to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862/20 "2017-10-26T08:04:09Z")
There are obviously people who are pretentious about all sorts of things, and so language may be one of those things. I remember once hearing an actress on a late-night talk show describe someone as “supercilious”. I think that’s a good example of pretension because it’s so inappropriate for an audience where half the folks probably didn’t know what it meant, and there are lots of other ways to say the same thing. OTOH there are people who are just culturally conditioned to a particular language style and vocabulary. We tend to associate a more formal style of language with “smartness” because many of these folks are from science, medicine, and engineering backgrounds and have long become acclimatized to speaking and writing that way with their peers. I think it’s just a blend of technical terminology, education, and a concern for precision. It’s interesting to look at the vocabulary used by a really excellent expository writer like the psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker. I am just in awe of the way this guy can put words to paper. I don’t always agree with everything he says but by God I admire the way he says it. Even when he’s explaining the most mundane things, his prose is often positively lyrical, his words flowing like music. So does he use “big words” in ordinary writing? The answer is: sometimes, when it’s necessary. He may also use the occasional uncommon word that some of us might consider a bit esoteric. But he also uses a great deal of common everyday slang. And the point is that every word seems exactly right – you couldn’t replace it without losing some nuance of meaning. There is absolutely no sense of the writing being pretentious or stilted; instead, it’s more like a literary symphony that’s a joy to read and conveys the sense that he’s writing for the pleasure of his reader. William Safire titled one of his books “the right word in the right place at the right time” and this is exactly the principle Pinker executes so well. That’s how smart people really use language, and it’s very different from the way pretentious snobs talk. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smart-people-use-big-words/799862.md?page=2)