this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2024
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What are some words you swear people use to try and sound smart? (kbin.melroy.org)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Mine is - Algorithm. Ever since people have learned some of the inner workings of how content is suggested to them, that became the new spammed word that easily got exhausted within the week of it being used.

Yeah, an algorithm does indeed pitch you things of what to watch or listen to. But there's more going on than that, but people all the time just stop at that word and expect everyone to suddenly understand it. Sadly, most people just buy it at face value.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

When people use industry specific jargon and acronyms with someone not in their industry.

It is a very simple rule of writing and communication. You never just use an acronym out of nowhere, you write it out in full the first time and explain the acronym, and then after that you can use it.

Artificial diamonds can be made with a High Temperature, High Pressure (HTHP) process, or a ...

Doctors, military folk, lawyers, and technical people of all variety are often awful at just throwing out an acronym or technical term that you literally have no way of knowing.

Usually though, I don't think it's a conscious effort to sound smart. Sometimes, it's just people who are used to talking only with their coworkers / inner circle and just aren't thinking about the fact that you don't have the same context, sometimes it's people who are feeling nervous / insecure and are subconsciously using fancy terms to sound like they fit in, and sometimes it's people using specific terminology to hide the fact that they don't actually understand the concepts well enough to break them down further.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I do this alot but I alway follow up with "Do you know what blah is?" and depending on age/experience/acronym or term I ask them to explain it.

Sometimes I get assigned work with a senior engineer(where I learn) and sometimes I get asked to help a new person. For example right now I'm in a project being driven by a senior engineer but was asked to assist a professional development program employee(or pdp) to actually execute the project. As a result this is the habit I developed to 1. Make sure I don't confuse people with random acronyms or terms 2. Ensure we are on the same regarding definition(and they are not just saying yes I know when they don't).