# Words you use to make yourself sound smart
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 18, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103 "2011-03-18T02:23:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/41 "2011-03-19T00:04:56Z")
My vocabulary is what it is - not trying to sound like anything but me.
But every once in a while a word will start showing up more frequently. Lately it’s ‘‘ostensibly.’’
I used to pick up a lot of words from reading when I was younger, but I’d always pronounce them wrong because I’d only seen them written. So I try not to use words unless I’ve actually _heard_ them before.
ETA: IMO, good communication is about a lot more than using $5 words. It’s about knowing what words to use in what context with what audience.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/42 "2011-03-19T00:19:39Z")
Ironical, embiggen, and homosexualize.
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### Author:  [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/43 "2011-03-19T00:50:46Z")
“Use”
Really. One doesn’t ‘utilize’ a pen to write, one ‘uses’ it; one utilizes a pen to scrape wax out of one’s ear.
> [@pancakes3](#):
>
> pedantic
cute
> [@Bearflag70](#):
>
> I hate when people contort a normal everyday simple sentence to sound smart or more “official.”
>
> He [del]proceeded to[/del] [del]operate[/del] **drove** the [del]vehicle[/del] **car** [del]prior to[/del] **before** fastening his seat belt.
>
> I see it most often on _People’s Court_ and similar shows.
Cops call that ‘cop-speak’.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/44 "2011-03-19T02:42:31Z")
> [@kittenblue](#):
>
> Oh, Lordy…I just had the following discussion with a coworker not more than an hour ago:
>
> KB: So, your boss seemed a little reticent about the corporate visit yesterday,how did it go?
>
> CW: Oh, KB, you know I’m dumb, tell me what that means!
>
> KB: It means she was reluctant to talk about how the visit went.
>
> CW: OK, now what does THAT mean?
>
> KB: It means she didn’t say much when I called and asked her how it went.
>
> CW: Oh, okay! Yeah, it went fine!
"Reluctant?"She didn’t know “reluctant?” Yeah, she’s one of the people I’d definitely be dumbing down for (but I wouldn’t have thought to dumb down “reluctant”).
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/45 "2011-03-19T03:32:13Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#):
>
> Words I’m comfortable using in casual conversation but happen to make me sound smart:
> juxtaposition
> ostensibly
> obsequious
> anti-disestablishmentarianism
> ameliorate
> tangential
> defenstrate
> dictatorial
> punitive
> impunity
>
> y muchos mas…
What kind of “casual conversations” are you having that “anti-disestablishmentarianism” and “defenestrate” play a part, other than perhaps word trivia?
(Incidentally, hasn’t “defenestrate” become the Millard Fillmore of obscure vocabulary? That is, no longer really that obscure because of its notoriety for being obscure? I mean, at least among the college-educated crowd?)
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### Author:  [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/46 "2011-03-19T04:15:07Z")
“I wrote an article/thesis paper/research paper about it.”
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/47 "2011-03-19T06:09:51Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> All I had to do in the past was pronounce pen or think correctly.
I’ve tried both. Pronouncing pen was easy but I’m still working on thinking correctly.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/48 "2011-03-19T06:35:10Z")
When I’m in my normal comfort zone or speaking with someone one-on-one, I speak fairly simply. I’ve never felt a need to use big words to make myself sound smart. Just speaking clearly and sensibly has worked just fine for me.
Now, get me in a situation where I’m a little uncomfortable, or speaking in front of a group of people? The $5 words just sort of pop out. I don’t even think of them before they arrive in a sentence, and I get flustered when I do it, because then I think the people must think I’m throwing big words around to show off. Then I get more flustered, and the big words keep popping out, and I get really self-conscious and hope for the world to end immediately.
I don’t really do well speaking to groups, unless I have the whole thing written down and I stick to a script. I don’t speak to groups often, and it’s been years, now. The uncomfortable one-on-one stuff happens mostly when I have to go over a big estimate for a pet’s emergency medical care. I can easily slip into med-speak if the client makes me nervous and I have to take a breath and watch myself.
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### Author:  [@DHMO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DHMO)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/49 "2011-03-19T06:35:11Z")
I was having a discussion with a co-worker where a point I was making was “self-explanatory.” He fully understood what I was saying, but a group on the other side of the room overheard it, and since it fell outside their (yahoo Florida-Cracker) comfort zone, for weeks afterward, I became “Mr. Self-Explanatory.”
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### Author:  [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/surrounded_by_literalists)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/50 "2011-03-19T07:10:29Z")
I rarely use word I have read but have not heard. I was at least 30 before I realized ‘chaos’ was not pronounced ‘cha - hoes’. I know, but think about it. Nobody ever ‘said’ that word around me. I am a reader and I had read it many times an knew what it meant, but I had never heard it out loud.
As a college librarian, I often help students with proof reading various assignments and essays. One young lady had me read her essay on the legislative branch of government. I became very confused about one paragraph and no matter how many times I read it, it just didn’t make any sense. After talking with her about the goal of the assignment and the passage in her text I finally realized that she had misinterpreted the word ‘execute’ to mean ‘to kill’ rather than ‘to carry out’. Her paper was stating that congress was given power to kill any laws it made.
I am grateful for the humility of ‘chaos’
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### Author:  [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/51 "2011-03-19T10:17:12Z")
carrots, violin, codfish, polystyrene, noodle, rhizome, charlie sheen
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### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/52 "2011-03-19T11:33:13Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#):
>
> When I’m in my normal comfort zone or speaking with someone one-on-one, I speak fairly simply. I’ve never felt a need to use big words to make myself sound smart. Just speaking clearly and sensibly has worked just fine for me.
I discover that this is interestingistic to my selfnessosity beingness-iness.
OK, fun’s over.
To me, speaking “simply” means to use the most descriptive and appropriate (and therefore, the greatest economy of) words to convey my thoughts.
This results in my using “big words” to say what I mean. The alternative is to use a whole bunch of less precise words in an attempt to only approximately describe what I mean.
I don’t care for this alternative because it uses more words than necessary to get the point across, and because almost invariably these “dumbed-down replacement” words render my intended communication less nuanced and less accurate.
Of course I naturally try to adapt my language to my specific audience; managing this successfully provides the greatest efficiency. Alas, one can not always accurately gauge the vocabulary limitations of one’s audience. The result is either over-utilization of “$5 words” the audience doesn’t understand, or a dumbed-down statement containing too many words that are not completely descriptive.
Ahhh… c’est la vie! (Do foreign language words count as “smarty-pants words”? ;):D)
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### Author:  [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/53 "2011-03-19T13:50:12Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#):
>
> When I’m in my normal comfort zone or speaking with someone one-on-one, I speak fairly simply. …
> Now, get me in a situation where I’m a little uncomfortable, or speaking in front of a group of people? The $5 words just sort of pop out.
That happens when I get angry. My diction and elocution get all impeccable, too.
> [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](#):
>
> I rarely use word I have read but have not heard. I was at least 30 before I realized ‘chaos’ was not pronounced ‘cha - hoes’. …
I’m flabberrgasted. You never heard the word ‘chaos’ spoken?
When I finally found out how ‘debacle’ was pronounced, I stopped guessing at pronounciations.
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#):
>
> Ahhh… c’est la vie! (Do foreign language words count as “smarty-pants words”? ;):D)
Only if you pronouce them correctly. Be very careful with ‘forte’.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/54 "2011-03-19T14:32:23Z")
When one variable goes up as a result of another variable going down, it is often said there is an “inverse relationship” between the two. As an example, A = 1/B. When I want to sound smart, I say there is a “ **hyperbolic relation** ” between the two.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/55 "2011-03-19T15:02:26Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> When one variable goes up as a result of another variable going down, it is often said there is an “inverse relationship” between the two. As an example, A = 1/B. When I want to sound smart, I say there is a “ **hyperbolic relation** ” between the two.
But “inverse relationship” and “hyperbolic relationship” are not necessarily the same thing, are they? Doesn’t “hyperbolic” imply a non-linear form in the shape of, well, a hyperbola? For example, Y=-X would be an inverse relationship, but not hyperbolic, no?
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### Author:  [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/56 "2011-03-19T15:04:33Z")
> [@the lone cashew](#):
>
> carrots, violin, codfish, polystyrene, noodle, rhizome, charlie sheen
That is the most brilliant thing anyone has ever said.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/57 "2011-03-19T15:06:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> But “inverse relationship” and “hyperbolic relationship” are not necessarily the same thing, are they? Doesn’t “hyperbolic” imply a non-linear form in the shape of, well, a hyperbola? For example, Y=-X would be an inverse relationship, but not hyperbolic, no?
I’m pretty sure hyperbolic means A = 1/B. And a lot of inverse relationships are indeed A = 1/B. When one is, I like to say, “There is a hyperbolic relationship between the two.”
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/58 "2011-03-19T16:54:45Z")
Here on the 'Dope, I write like an idiot, because the overwhelming majority writes like an idiot. That’s harsh; I’ll say writes lazily, or extemporaneously. I’ll speak that way, too, depending upon the audience. But in professional situations, concise language is important, and a single “fancy” word is a whole lot more concise than using a string of common words.
And the use of “extemporaneously” wasn’t meant to be ironic; my brain was too lazy to find a string of shorter words to substitute for it.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/59 "2011-03-19T17:50:00Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure hyperbolic means A = 1/B. And a lot of inverse relationships are indeed A = 1/B. When one is, I like to say, “There is a hyperbolic relationship between the two.”
Sure, y=1/x is a hyperbola. I wasn’t sure if you were applying that term only to that example, or all inverse relationships. You could also call it a “reciprocal relationship” if you’d like to mix things up a bit. Or you could say they’re inversely _proportional._
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### Author:  [@Anticounterrevolutionary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anticounterrevolutionary)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-use-to-make-yourself-sound-smart/575103/60 "2011-03-19T18:42:23Z")
> [@j66](#):
>
> Only if you pronouce them correctly. Be very careful with ‘forte’.
I posit that if you pronounce “forte” properly, as “fort”, you won’t make yourself sound smart. Most people will think you’re mispronouncing it. “for-tay” has become accepted through misuse by people trying to sound smart! I avoid that one all together. Saying “That’s her strong point” doesn’t score any points for creativity but you won’t sound like a tool either.
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