When I was a child, I did not look forward to spelling tests. I struggled with spelling, all of my other friends were so good at spelling, and I felt left in the dust.
So, when I reached 6th grade, I was excited to learn that I would never, ever, have to take another spelling test in my educational career.
Nope. Not a one.
What I didn't know, was that instead of spelling tests, the new test was vocabulary.
And not only did you have to spell the word correctly, you had to know what it meant!
Whew! Overload!
I spent the remainder of my primary education learning really big words. Big words that meant exactly the same as smaller, more common words, but these bigger words were suppose to make me sounds more impressive, smarter, like I knew what I was talking about.
Move forward to college, and in the College of Education - big, beautiful words were frowned upon.
Why?
Because as a teacher you are to instruct your students and also efficiently communicate with their parents, which more than likely are at the same reading levels as their children.
I remember one horror story that said that a teacher was written up and almost terminated for using a "big" word to a caregiver.
The word you ask?
Adamant.
To use it in the sentence used by the teacher, "I am sorry, you are not authorized to pick up this child from school, his mother was adamant."
Result?
The caregiver reported the teacher for cussing at her. Teacher called wolf. However, it was their own words against each others, and ultimately the teacher was punished.
Lesson?
Big words don't make you sound smarter, or more qualified to speak on a certain topic.
And in some cases, it may get you canned.
A large vocabulary is admirable. Good for you!
But it should be used carefully.
Often times than none when large vocabulary is used, it is used to make the opponent sound inferior, or less qualified to make their statements of belief.
That's just not cool.
If you are so smart and can prove your point against another, then you do not even need to pull out the big guns in your speech. Large vocabulary words shouldn't even be needed.
The key to communication is to communicate. (Duh!)
And sometimes when you use large vocabulary words in your speech, you are accomplishing the opposite.
