Too wordy for them?

[b0bs0]

Ok I guess this is kind of a nerdy question but I want to know if this just happens for me.

So say you are talking to one of your friends who you know quite well. You are about to reply to them/answer one of their questions. You think about your response and as you are about to speak you stop yourself.
You realize that in your response you are using one or more words that the person you are talking to might not understand; so you change your response to something simpler.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?
Give an example if you can think of one!

 

[Omikron009]

No. All of my friends are quite intelligent. If they weren't they wouldn't be my friends.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Never.

Actually, I like those moments. Since they don't know the words, I'll feel superior.

 

[Julianking93]

Never.

Actually, I like those moments. Since they don't know the words, I'll feel superior.

Seconded.

I know its a bad way to feel, but I do.

 

[BonsaiK]

This probably happens to me a lot. Not my problem though. If they don't understand it's their responsiblity to pipe up and say something, I can't read their minds.

 

[Harold Donchee]

Yeah its happened. Usually I give them the benefit of the doubt and just use the word or phrase anyways, but half the time they don't get it. By avoiding those words i'm not really helping them though.

 

[Icecoldcynic]

Never.

Actually, I like those moments. Since they don't know the words, I'll feel superior.

Seconded.

I know its a bad way to feel, but I do.

Guilty as charged. It's even better when they pretend to know what you mean but you can tell they don't.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

XD Nah, I mostly use refrenses they wouldn't understand, but not big words

 

[moretimethansense]

I usually say the words regardless,
expand their vocabulary a bit I say!

 

[blue heartless]

You know, if this is done while online it shouldn't be a problem the other person should just look it up. If done IRL then the other should candidly express their confusion.

Also, it may cause them to act all higgledy-piggledy.

 

[Frankydee]

sadly, I've had to do that with some college students I was going to school with.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Not very often, my friends tend to be nerds. I find out all the time that other people don't have my vocabulary though when my comments are met with baffled expressions, and thus I have to retroactively dumb things down, but the only time I proactively revise my speech patterns are when I'm explaining technical things to end-users at work [small](end-user is techie for idiot, just so you know)[/small].

 

[Caligulove]

more like with some of the people I worked with. But it was more like I would explain it once and they would ask again or for me to clarify something... and then I would have a moment like that where I would reword something.

But overall, no. I try to speak the same way to everyone around me. The only time I might not think someone was understanding what I was talking about would be when I talk about more advanced cooking or the stuff I studied for my last term paper on genetics. But even then I would start of explaining it like I would to anyone.

 

[Space Spoons]

I used to do that often, back in high school. Then, I realized my friends were morons and ditched 'em.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

nope never happened with me, only when i end up talking to kids does that ever happen. if it does happen, i use the big words and long explanations to bring the person down a notch or two

 

[Pimppeter2]

Nope. It feed the ego good

 

[ctrl-alt-postal]

I have to re-word things sometimes after they don't understand.....

What gets me more is being sarcastic too well, they don't get it and I look like an idiot 'cause of their lack of comprehension.....

 

[BlindMessiah94]

I think you should never dumb down a conversation or the words you use. I don't dumb down a conversation with my 2 year old niece, and when she doesn't understand a word she asks me to explain it. Better to encourage people to think and expand their vocabulary than to shrink it. That way we all be more smarter?

 

[Berethond]

No. All of my friends are quite intelligent. If they weren't they wouldn't be my friends.

This, for the most part.
Although, one of my best friends isn't quite as intelligent as the rest of us, she more than makes up for it with her almost-frightening level of perception and compassion. I don't think I've ever had to downgrade my language, though.

Except technical terms, of course. But those don't really count.