Do you think big words make you smart?

[Reverend Rick]

I don't know if I agree with that entirely. While intelligence does have an innate biological component, nurture can be just as important as nature. I can have a genetic tendency to be muscular, but if I never work out and eat McDonalds food three meals a day, I'm not going to possess a body builder physique. Intelligence is like a muscle in my mind, it can be increased with training.

I believe you hit the nail on the head here. You hit the ball out of the park!

I believe people who don't like "big words" might just be too lazy to want to learn something. When I see a word I don't know, I google wiki or break out the dictionary and look it up the old fashioned way.

People who use "big words" cause some of us to learn something.

What a boring world it would be if we had to dumb down our posts to a 5th grade level just because some folks are too lazy or unwilling to learn anything.

 

[Proper-Gander]

It's generally a good idea to figure out how to correctly apply basic grammar before worrying about things like advanced vocabulary.

Being able to successfully communicate your ideas makes you smart. If you use words no one else understands then you haven't communicated anything relevant.

I pretty much agree with what's been said. ^

In my experience, half the people who use "big words" don't know how to properly use them. (Personally, I prefer the proper use of grammar over a broad vocabulary.) The other half are people who try much too hard to seem intelligent and forget that one of the most important aspects of communication is having your message understood, not making it harder to comprehend.

 

[YmirGF]

I pretty much agree with what's been said. ^

In my experience, half the people who use "big words" don't know how to properly use them. (Personally, I prefer the proper use of grammar over a broad vocabulary.) The other half are people who try much too hard to seem intelligent and forget that one of the most important aspects of communication is having your message understood, not making it harder to comprehend.

I definitely agree and tailor my dialogue to meet the level of intelligence of the person(s) I am talking to. I will pepper that dialogue with more complex terms and often supply working definitions to broaden scope, but keep an eye on the listener to see if they are following. One of my greatest attributes is the ability to break down complex ideas into very small bite size pieces that even children can understand. In all cases, I keep looking at the person to see if their eyes have grown dull or glazing over or if there is that sparkle of recognition. It saves a lot of time.

The other day, I was in a conversation with a fellow who is mentally handicapped due to a terrible accident when he was a small child. (He was run over by a car while riding his tricycle - the family doctor, who was backing out of their drive way, no less.) He asked me what I thought of our newly proposed taxation system, the HST, and I explained it briefly to him and the problems associated with going back to the old system. To my utter surprise he said, "Is it like this.... blah blah blah blah" and at first, I didn't get what he meant and was preparing to clarify what I meant. Then it dawned on me that his very, very simple analogy was, in fact, very appropriate and I agreed with him the way he was looking at it.

All in all, it was a bit startling to see how he boiled down my simple explanation, into an even simpler explanation that fit to a T. It was interesting seeing it happen "live", that moment of cognition and recognition... and having his idea validated. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen much for this fellow.

 

[Dr. Nosophoros]

Can I get a "biggee" fry wit dat?

 

[monta]

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 5 characters.

 

[ChristineES]

On the TV show MASH, Col. Potter told Radar not to use such big words because it made him sound like he swallowed a dictionary (paraphrased). I have to agree with that.

 

[evane123]

So you dislike slang?

Out of curiosity, who gets to pick which ONE of the 464 definitions of the word set will be the one and only definition of the word set?
And what 463 other words are you going to use for the remaining definitions?

I strongly suspect that you will pass on this wee little exercise.
and to think that RUN has 396 definitions, GO has 368 definitions, TAKE has 343 definitions, STAND has 334 definitions, GET has 289 definitions, TURN has 288 definitions, PUT has 268 definitions, FALL has 264 definitions, STRIKE has 250 definitions...
Source: Oxford English Dictionary

What is comical is how you whine about the word arachnophobia which has only one meaning...
I get the distinct feeling you have not thought this whole word thing through very far.

I think slang is horrible.
I think i can think of two definitions of run to show a example of what can be done. I think runs first usual definition is to move fast with feet to the speed that only one foot is touching the ground. I think another definition of run is to try to gain a position with votes. I think instead of stating that a person is running for office, i think they could state that they are trying to gain the position. I think language usage is used to manipulate often in presidential elections when the candidate says they are going to be the next in president before the vote to try to gain rank in the minds of the voters.
I think that you might remember the definitions of those words from early age. I think instead of making words that have definitions and simpler, fast explainations the words that are new could be those type of words, but i think those words should not be the prior defined words. I think using simple English defends against manipulative language better.
I think arachnophobia can be explained faster and with less effort and with less possible problems by stating that a person has a large fear of spiders. I think i wrote about some possible problems.
I think i have spent years studying the English language after noticing the horrible effects that the English language had on me.

 

[McBell]

I think slang is horrible.
I think i can think of two definitions of run to show a example of what can be done. I think runs first usual definition is to move fast with feet to the speed that only one foot is touching the ground. I think another definition of run is to try to gain a position with votes. I think instead of stating that a person is running for office, i think they could state that they are trying to gain the position. I think language usage is used to manipulate often in presidential elections when the candidate says they are going to be the next in president before the vote to try to gain rank in the minds of the voters.
I think that you might remember the definitions of those words from early age. I think instead of making words that have definitions and simpler, fast explainations the words that are new could be those type of words, but i think those words should not be the prior defined words. I think using simple English defends against manipulative language better.
I think arachnophobia can be explained faster and with less effort and with less possible problems by stating that a person has a large fear of spiders. I think i wrote about some possible problems.
I think i have spent years studying the English language after noticing the horrible effects that the English language had on me.

You blatant avoidance is duly noted.

 

[Otherright]

Einstein said that if you couldn't explain it to an eight year old, you didn't know it either.

 

[evane123]

Big as in...

Definition of BIG


or



??

I just want to be clear.


(luminous, keen, serene, and... unmistakable... all sound good)

Definition of CLEAR

I think you brought very appropriate information. I think i should have stated," Do you think words that have lots of letters makes you smart?" I think i search to try to find more information to try to make better decisions.
i think i would change the sentence now if it was not stated before your important information.

 

[evane123]

Very true. It would also be a good idea to mention we cannot control how smart we are, it is given to us at conception.

I believe it is what we do with that intelligence is more important than the amount of it.

I think neglecting to try to gain intelligence because a person tells a person that the person is limited to the intelligence the person can have will not give the person the information to be smarter than what the person states.

 

[McBell]

I think you brought very appropriate information. I think i should have stated," Do you think words that have lots of letters makes you smart?" I think i search to try to find more information to try to make better decisions.
i think i would change the sentence now if it was not stated before your important information.

You say sesquipedaliophobia.
I say hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.

 

[McBell]

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

 

[Skwim]

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisitis

 

[McBell]

acetylseryltyrosylserylisoleucylthreonylserylprolylserylglutaminylphenylalanylvalylphenylalanylleucylserylserylvalyltryptophylalanylaspartylprolylisoleucylglutamylleucylleucylasparaginylvalylcysteinylthreonylserylserylleucylglycylasparaginylglutaminylphenylalanylglutaminylthreonylglutaminylglutaminylalanylarginylthreonylthreonylglutaminylvalylglutaminylglutaminylphenylalanylserylglutaminylvalyltryptophyllysylprolylphenylalanylprolylglutaminylserylthreonylvalylarginylphenylalanylprolylglycylaspartylvalyltyrosyllysylvalyltyrosylarginyltyrosylasparaginylalanylvalylleucylaspartylprolylleucylisoleucylthreonylalanylleucylleucylglycylthreonylphenylalanylaspartylthreonylarginylasparaginylarginylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylvalylglutamylasparaginylglutaminylglutaminylserylprolylthreonylthreonylalanylglutamylthreonylleucylaspartylalanylthreonylarginylarginylvalylaspartylaspartylalanylthreonylvalylalanylisoleucylarginylserylalanylasparaginylisoleucylasparaginylleucylvalylasparaginylglutamylleucylvalylarginylglycylthreonylglycylleucyltyrosylasparaginylglutaminylasparaginylthreonylphenylalanylglutamylserylmethionylserylglycylleucylvalyltryptophylthreonylserylalanylprolylalanylserine

Yes, that is one word...

 

[Skwim]

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[evane123]

I believe you hit the nail on the head here. You hit the ball out of the park!

I believe people who don't like "big words" might just be too lazy to want to learn something. When I see a word I don't know, I google wiki or break out the dictionary and look it up the old fashioned way.

People who use "big words" cause some of us to learn something.

What a boring world it would be if we had to dumb down our posts to a 5th grade level just because some folks are too lazy or unwilling to learn anything.

I think bringing out a dictionary to figure words that you do not use is approiate. I think if you do not have a simpler, easier way to express the information that the new word might be appropriate.
I think doing a Y chart helps explain what happens when there are two options at a intersection of thought. I think pulling information from a intersected part of the brain brings part of the other side of the intersection into thought instead of not existing because to reach the information and bring the information back to the processing part of the brain the energy might have to flow past the intersection and come back from the intersection. I think the main definition gets more strength at the intersection because of the fuel storage that is built from puting energy in the storage to push energy back into the brain. I think adding other definitions and making them the main definition switches the intersections main thought. I think switching main thoughts of a part of the brain can cause energy that flows to other parts of the brain because of the reaction of the intersections energy being important to the energy coming from the option chosen at the intersection. I think the change of what the definition means not only effects the definition but the equations that the definition is used in.

 

[evane123]

You blatant avoidance is duly noted.

I think who decides what words to use is ussually up to the discover. I think checking to try to figure if the new word has similar frequency's to other words is important to keep them separate. I think kids learn Spanish with a word that has the same frequency that see does that means correct in Spanish that is a problem. I think languages have those problems.

 

[FlyingTeaPot]

I think big words usually have combinations of definitions of other more accurate to individual amounts definitions. I think the combination makes disagreeing less done because of the attachment of agreeable information. I think that can cause communication problems.
I think there is a big word test called the s.a.t's that from the information i have few get the definitions correct after 12 years of study of the language. I think some people feel stupid because they do not have the ability to use big words and i think people think they are smart because they use big words. I think some people make there own definition of big words from interaction instead of a dictionary definition that causes deviation from one definition that causes multiple values in a definition area. I think people might do that because of fear of being considered stupid.
I think putting multiple defintions into one word puts more than one value into usage to explain information by having different words that can explain the information but have different values. I think the usage of the big word instead of the two or more small words can cause the disaster of the small words value in the thought process because the small definitions information becomes stored at a different level of the brain.
I think some people might not consider this a problem because they do not notice the effect that not accurate information can have on the ability of the brain to process information to make decisions.

I think you think you are confusing me, but I'm smarter than that!

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Big words don't make me smart. Being able to use them is merely a side-effect of being intelligent.