Monday, September 6, 2010

Fancy Pants...

Monday, September 6, 2010......

Ever come across a person that TELLS you how intelligent they are? The person who believes using words from medieval times is acceptable when having a conversation?

I have.

It's annoying as hell.

Don't get me wrong, I love when I hear people use words that we typically don't use in everyday conversation, but what I don't like is when they assume fancy words = intelligence. It doesn't.

In many cases, it leads to arrogance. Just because your vocabulary is amazing, don't assume you know everything. And when someone corrects you because they've actually worked in the field and came across the situation your were talking about on a daily basis, don't tell me "I haven't worked in the field, but know it to be true". How? How could you?

My ex neighbor was famous for doing this, but he didn't declare himself brilliant. He just wanted you to believe that he knew it all. At first, I would believe him if he talked about subject matter I hadn't a clue about. But one day, he revealed his hand when he discussed suicide clauses in life insurance policies. I worked for 8 years in the insurance industry and was a registered life insurance agent. I knew the ins-and-outs of a standard life insurance policy and called him out on it. The more he try to dig himself out of his lie, the more I'd nail him to the wall.

Prior to meeting my ex neighbor, I trusted everyone was honest and only talked about a subject when they were knowledgeable about it. Now, I know better.

I haven't come across an individual like my neighbor until I met Fancy Pants. Now I know to keep quiet, smile and realize although he though he may use big words, he could be 100% full of shit.

11 comments:

Lois Hughes said...

Hi. I just found your blog this morning and it certainly caught my attention. I read through some posts and think you're a great writer with interesting things to say. Glad I found you. As for arrogance and knowing it all, I've met many people like this in my life (as have we all). It's pretty easy in life to act like you know more than everyone. Displaying quiet intelligence with a touch of humility takes character and is so much more appealing. Thanks for the post.

Canadianbloggergirl said...

I do know what you mean when it comes to meeting the infamous "know it all" but actually doesn't know a thing pertaining to certian issues.

Another thing that drives me, is being corrected. Example, You and two other friends have a conversation. One friend goes home with you for dinner, and you explain to someone else, say your b/f or hubby, and you repeat what you said. The friend that came home with you corrects a statement like this:
"you didn't say, 'elizabeth is gorgeous', you said 'elizabeth is beauitful'.

Like hello, same thing...right? annoying!!!

Herding Cats said...

One of my biggest pet peeves! Ughh, so annoying when people do this.

Brian Miller said...

smiles. i was going to try writing a bunch of big words...but it did not work...i agree and i probably ought to keep my mouth shut as well but i do like to trip them up...

DB said...

I love the name Fancy Pants. It seems like he has a few issues in addition to the "I'm better than you" vocabulary based on other stories.

He would probably say "That's MR. Fancy Pants to you".

hee hee

ps it is day 6 of National Yoga Month. Just sayin....

Anonymous said...

I hate people that use big words, so I wrote a bit of a post about it last year.

http://www.jewelsdiva.com.au/2009/08/people-that-continually-use-big-words.html

McGillicutty said...

right there with ya... i love funny, unusual words cos I have always loved words but when people use them to make me feel small it makes me cringe. I used to say nothing... now I ask the meaning of these huge words... often they can't come up with a meaning.. so I diffuse the situation by simply saying.. "google it".
everyone knows what that means.

J.J. in L.A. said...

I like to say 'I know a little bit about a lot of things', which brings me to a conversation I had with the family on Saturday.

We were talking about certain family relations and I said, "Did you know it's legal to marry your 1st cousin in California?" My sis and b-i-l called me out and I said, "Don't believe me? Look it up," so he got on his Droid.

Silence.

"Well?" I asked.

"She's right..."

Then sis asked, "Which cousin were you thinking about when you Googled it?"

Silence.

The Bumbles said...

Haha - JJ's comment is too funny!

There are 2 people I have known who were first class bullshitters. They were essentially compulsive liars - not doing so to make you feel inferior but to fool themselves into being more important. They were terrific one-uppers and could not resist embellishing on little white lies more and more to where the web they weaved was just utterly ridiculous. The highlight of my life was when these 2 people met each other and had the greatest battle to see who could create the bigger fantastic tales - all the while thinking the rest of us actually believed a word of what they were saying.

I always enjoyed calling them on their made up details - asking them to tell that story again about the time they met some famous person or other. Inevitably they would forget exactly what they had said had happened - it was fun to watch them squirm. Slippery little liars they were. Harmless to most anyone other than themselves. I felt sorry for them in a way - not having the confidence enough in their reality to be happy with who they were.

Little Ms Blogger said...

Lois – Thank you very much. I’m always taken aback by anyone that likes me work. I agree with you about quiet intelligence and I also believe a truly intelligent person never makes a person feel uncomfortable.

Canadianbloggergirl – Oh I feel your pain on being corrected. Sometimes I string 2 thoughts together into one bad sentence. It doesn’t happen often and I remember it happening and a gf, at the time, turned to another person and said “Do you see what I have to put up with”. I turned to her and said not anymore. I ended the “friendship”. I’ve run into her on several occasions, but have no desire to renew any type of relationship. Rude people suck.

Herding Cats – Ditto!

Brian – I would have laughed.

DB – Yes he does, but we’ll leave it at that.

Jewels Diva – LOVED THE POST. However, the thought of bitch slapping Mr Fancy Pants makes my stomach turn because I don’t want to touch him.

McGillicutty – LOL….Depends who uses the big word.

JJ – I have to say, I wouldn’t have questioned you knowing this fact, but why you knew in the first place. I loved your sister’s response. That was priceless.

The Bumbles – You’re better than me with bullshitters. I call people out and hate liars. If I don’t call them out, I walk away. It is probably the one thing that will set me off in under a minute. Can you tell I worked with a LOT of salesmen who bullshitted ALL THE TIME.

Nancy said...

Ok I have to leave a comment since I go by Fancypants myself- but not for using big words! It's only a nickname I swear! lol
I always find myself at a loss for words when I encounter someone like that. Sometimes you just want to say "STFU!"