I had the pleasure of attending a soiree of “young minds” recently, and it was quite interesting, to say the least. I realized that in this city, in this our country, where some of us sit and complain that nothing is happening. ALOT of people are doing ALOT more to BEST their BEST. (That’s me trying to practice what I learnt)….lol
The business train is moving…..NO, the business train is gunning ahead, whether we get on board or not. If you haven’t done a new thing yet this year, if you haven’t picked a new hobby, learnt a new skill, read a new book, taken a new class, joined social media(YES! PICK ONE OUT OF THE MILLION), if you haven’t done anything different this year, UNFORTUNATELY, you have missed out on plenty. FOUTUNATELY, there’s still the rest of the year to play catch up.
One new thing I also noticed, is the BIG word syndrome. I think people are tired of being basic, some people are tired of being regular and are now exploring BIG. The bigger the words you use, the smarter you look and the more people want to associate with you. Please note, if you only associate with basic people, there’s really no need for big words. There is no need to tell the akara seller that you want BEAN CAKE…..who are you fooling?
People were throwing words around, some I understood, some I reacted based on the flow of conversation and some words just flew right over my head. I started to wonder, Do we REALLY need to speak BIG ENGLISH in order to communicate? Or are we trying TOO hard to look smart? Is it about looking smart or being smart? Are we smart or foolish? Do we even look smart?
Let’s get one thing clear right up front: Just randomly using big words so other people think you’re smart isn’t going to work. A 2012 Princeton study found that, it can have the opposite effect but don’t let that discourage you from actually broadening your vocabulary.
Learning a new word here and there—and knowing how to use it effectively—doesn’t just make you appear more intelligent: It will actually make you more intelligent, for real! Recent studies have found a correlation between increasing your vocabulary as an adult and strengthening your brain.
Memorizing a dozen six syllable words will not make you the smartest person in your social circle. Strengthening your vocab is more about having a sincere curiosity and wanting to find new, more creative ways to describe the world around you.
To help you on your quest for greater intelligence, here are 30 words that won’t just make you sound smarter, but just might make you smarter.
- CACOPHONY: A “cacophony” is any loud, unpleasant mixture of sounds. It could be musical instruments, howling dogs, car horns, or even people talking.
- ENNUI: It’s the feeling you get when you’re simultaneously bored and annoyed. You were expecting more, but you got… this! You’re not depressed exactly, but you’d definitely rather be anywhere but here.
- AQUIVER: You’ve got a serious case of the feels, but you’re not sure how to talk about it without saying “the feels”? which means you’re so overcome with emotion that you’re practically trembling.
- UMBRAGE: It means “offense” or “annoyance.” Can you imagine how much more fun fights would be if people responded to insults that hurt their feelings with, “Dear sir, I take umbrage to that comment?”
- NON-SEQUITUR: It’s when the subject in a conversation gets changed without warning, usually abruptly. It’s a nice way of saying, “Have you even been listening to me?” EXAMPLE: “Wait, why did you just bring up astronauts? I thought we were talking about pilots. That was a weird non-sequitur.”
Well, am not in the mood to pen down 30 words, I hope this 5 helps. Remember, the goal is BE SMART not look smart. Have a Prodigious year.
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