I’m talking about derogatory terms like “nerd,” “geek,” “wise-ass,” and so on, as well as sayings like “nobody likes a smart aleck.”

It seems to me that these terms and expressions are used much more frequently in the business world than derogatory terms like “show-off,” “charlatan,” “fraud,” and so on.

I can’t even think of a commonly used saying for the latter. Only: “Fake it till you make it,” which is really more of a reinforcement of the idea that knowledge isn’t very valuable.

Is it just my impression?

  • FinjaminPoach
    2·
    15 days ago

    Yep i think there might be, tbh! Good catch.

    But one reason we might not have many phrases in english for “people who pretend to know things” is because we simply say “fraud” or “fake.” We can tag these adjectives omto whatever the thing they’re pretending to be is; “fake football fan,” “Fraud Accountant.”

    The fact we uae “fraud” and “fake” may indicate a few of these possibilities:

    • maybe it was historically only important to accuse someone of fake skill credentials rather than knowledge credentials, since mandatory public education is a recent thing. People can learn from wondering things out loud. Pretending to be a stonemason, however - i.e being a fraud - can get people killed or ruin the task at hand and waste money & resources.

    #2

    • maybe academics and intellectual people in general are just more accepting, hence don’t insult people for their lack of learning very much / in an academic contdxt anyway you’d be more precise and say “you need tk evidence x y and z or you need to improve kmowledgebase in C and Z areas.”

    #3

    • Maybe we use ruder words like “moron, r-word, imbecile” when people show up a lack of knowledge in something.
    • also when you catch someone out for lying or being inaccurate, you have to prove they’re wrong, stating/demonstrating how they’re wrong. Phrases like “smart alec” come from a place of frustration and embarassment at not knowing the aubject matter as well as the target

    By the way, the way i’ve seen it used, smart alec actually means “You’re dismissing the matter at hand to flaunt your intelligence.” It’s not just from a place of insecurity - in fact i’ve rarely seen it used like that.