Several years ago I took the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) so I could get into grad school. In addition to the quantitative (math) and analytical writing sections the exam includes a section devoted to analogies, completions, and reading comprehensions. This “verbal” section is all about the vocabulary.
Look, I know words. I use words all the time. But the vocabulary tested on the GRE are unlike any words I (or any normal person) use in day-to-day life. They are long, difficult-to-pronounce words with multiple syllables and limited conversational value. Unfortunately, they are also required knowledge if you want to be considered educated enough to be educated.
C’mon people, the purpose of communicating is to create and exchange meaning. If I’m communicating with someone who doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say because I used big words, zero communication occurs. On the contrary, if I refrain from using big words and we can both understand what’s being said then communication does occur. <– also referred to as winning.
Big Words Can Create Confusion
When a big word user talks to a small word knower lots can impact the message. Ever have a conversation with an intellectual who used a big word incorrectly? How ironic (or is it?) Ever use a word that is a word only because it’s been misused so many times people have stopped fighting its exclusion from the English language? I’m talking to you irregardless. Or what about when people use a ridiculously big word to communicate an important message only to completely alienate their audience? This is exactly what happened in the last election when politicians kept saying Americans felt disenfranchised for one reason or another. And when reporters took to the streets and asked people if such and such made them feel disenfranchised, many responded, “I don’t know, but I don’t fell like I had a say in what happened.”
Big Words ≠ Smart
Regardless of their use or misuse, people will continue to use big words not to communicate, but as a symbol of their perceived intellectual status. Know a bunch of ’em and you’ll have lots of badges for your vernacular vest. Know a few and you’re a big dummy with a Good Enough Diploma. I got news for you big word knowers, knowing and using big words does not mean you are smarter than someone who does not. It only means that you know big words.
Final Thoughts
There’s a reason television news reports on a 6th grade level, newspapers write on an 8th grade level, and I write on a 9th grade level. It is much easier to communicate in terms that everyone will understand, than to limit communication to the pedantic minority.
I agree that the purpose of speech and writing is to communicate and to be understood. But, if we dumb down everything we say to everyone with which we communicate, though, then eventually our language will devolve into a series of grunts. So, I think it’s appropriate to use more varied vocabulary when communicating with intellectual peers, and to consider your audience when choosing your vocabulary and adjust accordingly.
I never finished high school back in 1972, instead I went to work full time so you would assume I lacked the knowledge to understand big words but reading has become my favorite past time so I pick up allot from the books. Even the mystery novels or action books still tend to use some of the larger words. My comment is this; I have been accused of using big words and have put people off by it. They think by using them I am being haughty and pretentious which is nuts ‘cause I’m just a poor working class guy same as them. Big words are good for some but it’s insulting to others. It shouldn’t be, they should have learned most of them in school but they didn’t and the lack of understanding makes a gap in communicating with them and by doing it we alienate them. In my case it’s my customers I’m insulting so I have to “dumb down” because they keep my business alive, if you’re a politician the people you’re insulting are your constituents who you need to vote for you and alienating them will not help your cause. So like it or not we have to dumb down because the average hick is our customer base.