Big Words

There are people out there who like to use big words. Not just big words. I’m talking about really big words. Big words to try to impress you. Big words that you don’t know the meaning of. Big words that make you think the other person is so much smarter than you are because he knows a lot of big words and you don’t.

I once had a crush on a guy like this. He was what I jokingly referred to as the “most gorgeous guy in the world” to my friends. This guy was movie star good looking, like Tom Cruise or Rob Lowe. The only thing with this guy was that he wasn’t a movie star, and I think his good looks made him feel a little out of place around ordinary people. So, he made a practice of using the biggest, most gigantic word possible in every given conversational situation. His ploy to make people think he was smarter than them generally worked because most people are too embarrassed to admit it when they don’t know what a word means.

The problem with pretending to understand something when you don’t, is that you have to keep on pretending to understand as the person continues to use more big words to explain the first big word you didn’t understand. I’m a little like this when it comes to politics. I have to admit that I am a little ashamed of how little I know of what’s really going on in the world, due to the fact that I rarely read a newspaper. So, when hurricane Katrina hit in New Orleans two years ago where my family lives and I had no idea it was happening or when Sen. Barack Obama decided to run for president, and I didn’t know who he was, I tried to disguise my ignorance as long as possible.

When it comes to not knowing the meaning of words, I’m never afraid to ask, “What does that mean?” when I don’t understand a word. I’m much more curious about finding out what something means than I am afraid of looking like an idiot. I figure the more big words I know, the more ammunition I’ll have against other people who try to use big words against me.

There’s nothing worse, though, than being caught in the act of using a big word the wrong way by someone smarter than you.

With the most gorgeous guy in the world, I was often trying to catch him in the act of using the wrong word since I was convinced for years that I was much smarter than him.

The only thing was that since he often used words so far beyond my reach (and possibly his), I could never be sure if he was using a word incorrectly or not. Sometimes, in the heat of our passionate flirting bouts, I’d say, “And how do you spell that word?” And he would say, “I don’t know,” because he never professed to know how to spell the big words; he just thought he knew how to use them.

So, because of his lack of confidence with spelling and my insecurities about the big words, we both remained in the dark.

And, because neither of us knew any better, that enabled us to at least look good to each other.

(Readers can e-mail Lisa at lisal@thegrid.net.)