To sound stupid or to be a wordsmith

Question

I have started working on GRE words list. Well, I don't hear people use these words frequently, but I find some of them very clear and capable of conveying the exact meaning I have in mind. I am not a native speaker, and I want to know if it sounds stupid if a non-native speaker uses difficult words. Thank you for your comments in advance.

Clive · Accepted Answer

That's a tricky question. Much depends on the context.
eg Are you speaking or writing to educated or uneducated people?

If I asked you this question about words in your own native language, how would you answer me?

Clive

AlpheccaStars · Answer

WildblueI don't hear people use these words frequently

It all depends on what the subject of the conversations are.
There are sources where you can find word frequency measures.

For example, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=internet%2C+whilst&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=6&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cinternet%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cwhilst%3B%2Cc0 you can see when the word "internet" was first used, and how the word "whilst" declined in usage.

And https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Sedulity%2CQuisling%2CIncubus&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=6&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2CSedulity%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bsedulity%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BSedulity%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2CQuisling%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BQuisling%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bquisling%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BQUISLING%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2CIncubus%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bincubus%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BIncubus%3B%2Cc0 illustrates three of the GRE "difficult" words: Sedulity, Quisling, and Incubus. Obviously, no one uses "sedulity" much anymore!

Wildblue · Answer

CliveAre you speaking or writing to educated or uneducated people?

Hi, Clive.
Well, I find speaking to educated people more difficult than to the uneducated, because they know what I am going to say and if I do not use words in their appropriate context or if I use an old word, I will just make a fool of myself.

CliveIf I asked you this question about words in your own native language, how would you answer me?

I have some experience in talking to some non-native speakers trying to use idioms or old words of my own native language. Some of them were funny and some of them were completely out of context. In short, it was not a pleasing experience.

Thank you for your reply.

Wildblue · Answer

Hi, AlpheccaStars.
Thank you very much for the links. They're amazing.

Clive · Answer

. . . I will just make a fool of myself. In my experience, educated people are usually very tolerant and understanding when a non-native speaker is doing his/her best to speak English.

Clive

Wildblue · Answer

CliveIn my experience, educated people are usually very tolerant and understanding when a non-native speaker is doing his/her best to speak English.

That's great.

Thank you again.

To sound stupid or to be a wordsmith

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