Some people think that using big, fancy words makes them sound smarter, but it can actually have the opposite effect.
Trying to sound more intelligent by using long, academic-sounding words can make you seem less intelligent, according to one study. And trying to use more complicated language can backfire on you or have you come across sounding like a phony, but which words sound the most pretentious?
“Methinks” and “whilst” come to mind, and so do these other show-off words.
·Utilize - Just say “use” and get on with it.
·Plethora - This word is too much and it means too much and while we’re on the subject of excessive ways to say “a bunch,” we can skip myriad, too.
·Curate - What a fancy way to say selecting and organizing things.
·Authored - Calling something you wrote “authored” doesn’t make your writing more impressive and same goes for “penned.”
·Meta - A lot of people don’t understand what this means and if you’re one of them, you shouldn’t use it either.
·Penultimate - Many people use this one wrong and we don’t want you to be one of them. It means next to last, not the very last, latest, or very best thing.
·Splendiferous - It sounds like a made up word, but even though it’s real, you don’t need to use it.
·Loquacious - It’s just talkative, but using it or “verbose” doesn’t make you smarter.
·Cadre [[cad-ray]] - Just say group and get on with it.
·Signage - What’s wrong with just using “signs?”
·Stick-to-itiveness - There’s a much better word for this kind of perseverance: “tenacity.”
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