Want to Impress Your Valentine’s Day Date? Stop Trying to Sound So Smart
Why using smart words on a date may be a dumb romantic move
We all know that person: The one who drops ten dollar words into casual conversations for no apparent reason — and oftentimes, they don’t even realize they’re using those words incorrectly. In fact, a survey of 1,900 people by Preply found that 58 percent of respondents used a complex vocabulary to sound smarter, even if they had no idea what those words actually meant.
Although people think this is a sure way to impress someone, Preply’s Matt Zajechowski warns it will probably have the opposite effect.
“Having a large vocabulary can be important in more ways than one.”
“Few people have the patience to read or listen to artificially complex language,” Zajechowski said. “You’ve probably come across business memos that were written in such dense language that you had no idea what they meant. That’s even if you were able to get through them.”
And the words people liked to use to try to impress others with their intellectual prowess? Study participants listed these words the most:
- Articulate
- Ambiguous
- Aesthetic
- Capitalize
- Concur
- Contemplate
- Adequate
- Coincide
- Anomaly
- Adept
Whether you actually know what these words mean or not, trying to impress your Valentine’s Day date by dropping them into conversation is not likely to get you any love. That’s because 43 percent of people who hear someone using complex language automatically assumes the person is just attempting to sound smarter than they really are, and 25 percent simply don’t trust people who do this at all. When it comes to relationships, 46 percent of study participants said that using too many big words on dates for no good reason is a deal breaker.
“Few people have the patience to read or listen to artificially complex language.”
If you want to avoid sounding pompous on a date, you definitely want to avoid these words, which respondents said were most likely to make someone sound pretentious:
- Faux pas
- Audacious
- Caveat
- Bona fide
- Chic
- Brevity
- Touché
- Adulation
- Articulate
- Candor
Though using more complex language may not help your love life, it does have its advantages in the right contexts. Zajechowski says this can actually be a good thing at times — as long as you know what you’re talking about.
“Having a large vocabulary can be important in more ways than one,” Zajechowski said. “For example, it can make people want to pay attention because they respect your intelligence. For another, it can allow you to reach more people. If you know terms that sports fans, police officers, and computer technicians are likely to use, you can effectively communicate with all three groups.”
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Source:
Melore, C. (2022, February 2). 3 in 5 people ‘articulate’ themselves with big words to sound smarter — even if they don’t know the meanings. Study Finds. https://www.studyfinds.org/big-words-to-sound-smarter
