Agree, nothing invigorates you in the morning like another article like “10 signs that you are communicating with a close person.” It seems that its author is a “sofa” Sherlock from Facebook, who, based on one comment, undertakes to determine your IQ, the state of your bank account, and even the type of your favorite cheese.
We love lists like this too, but we love figuring out whether it's worth crossing out half of your vocabulary to seem smarter. Let's go through the most popular “stupidity markers” and look at them with humor and common sense.
“From the word at all”
This clumsy handsome man who burst into our language from the Russian infospace. Yes, it's a tracing. Yes, it's a bit jarring to purists who are used to the melodic “not at all,” “not at all,” or “not at all.”
But does it make a person stupid? No, it just shows the habit of sitting on the Internet. It's a language meme, a virus that will pass as quickly as it appeared.
“Well, that's it…”, “like”, “in short”
Parasitic words are the eternal pain of linguistic aesthetes. The person who uses them seems to have a vocabulary the size of a cheat sheet.
But often these words are just sounds, the brain has already run ahead, and the tongue simply can't keep up. While you're saying “well, that's…”, your brain is choosing a term to describe it. Even geniuses have said “uh-huh” when they were thinking about a new theory.
“There are only idiots around”
When a person regularly broadcasts to the world that they are the only one standing in a white coat among a crowd of ignorant people, it can really be a wake-up call. But it's not so much about IQ as it is about the Dunning-Kruger effect: the less a person knows, the more confident they are in their genius.
Smart people also see mistakes and, believe me, they often roll their eyes. But they do it silently or with irony, not with foam at the mouth. They understand that the world is too complicated to divide it into “I'm a good guy” and “everyone else is stupid.”
“What-what are you saying?”
Asking questions again is a sign that a person's brain is “overloaded.” Seriously? Or maybe the music is playing loudly in the cafe, or your interlocutor simply “shut up” while thinking about dinner? After all, it's better to ask three times than to nod in the affirmative and then do something wrong “because I heard so.”
“That's not what I meant”
Admitting your mistake, clarifying your point, and trying to explain it differently is a sign of emotional intelligence. A truly stupid person will stubbornly stand by their point, even if their statement offended everyone around them and made no sense. A smart person will say, “Wait, I phrased it poorly.”
“I'm nothing” vs “I'm a genius”
“I’m nothing, I’ll never succeed,” is what people with imposter syndrome, which is very common among highly qualified professionals and scientists, often say. They know so much that they realize how much they still don’t know.
But a sign of narcissism can sound like this: “I’m the best, listen to me.” And, unfortunately, narcissism can also occur in very intelligent people.
Modern slang: “cringe”, “rofl”, “vibe”
A favorite topic of language snobs. “How can a grown man say 'cringe'?” Just like our parents used to say “imagine” and our grandfathers used to say “let him go to hell.”
Language is not a museum piece under glass that needs to be dusted off. It changes whether we like it or not. Sometimes saying “that's a complete mess” is a much more accurate way to convey an emotion than explaining it at length.
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⚡ Readers' Pulse
What would you choose: always controlling your language and image to command respect, or allowing yourself to be “wrong” but authentic in your communication?
1 person has already voted. Join the discussion.
🧠 Purity of language and intellectual image ❤️ Sincerity and comfortable self-expression 🤔 I often change my style depending on the circumstances
📊 Mind map
🧠 Purity of language and intellectual image 0% ❤️ Sincerity and comfortable self-expression 100% 🤔 I often change my style depending on the circumstances 0% 💡
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