Why do some people think that using 'big' words makes them clever?

I don't use big word to make myself look clever. I never use a word I don't know the meaning of. I do use long words but it's usually because it's the best word for what I want to say. As you know, I love words and playing with them. The people who try and confuse you with long words are usually just trying to impress. They tend to be taken aback when you ask what the word means.

Some people are idiots and sometimes they are idiots who once read a dictionary - or got someone else to read one to them. I like big words and I enjoy using them sometimes. Some people appear to feel I am showing off when I do so but I am not usually! I have occassionally used big words just because I couldn't think of another one. I don't assume other people I am conversing with are stupid (mostly!) and I don't "dumb down" for my children so I don't see any reason for trying to think of smaller words when talking to adults. If they think I am showing off then it's probably because they don't understand. I don't know why someone would assume that someone else didn't understand big words, especially if they had never met. Not knowing the meaning of a word is fine and a sensible, intelligent person would explain the word if you asked what it meant but they wouldn't assume that you didn't know other words. I am sure there was a word I had not heard before. I don't remember what the word was but I did not know what it meant. Not because I'm unfamiliar with big words but because I had never heard nor seen the particular word before. That shouldn't make anyone assume I am stupid. The person who used that word told me what it meant when I asked and did not think any less of me for asking because he was a decent, intelligent person. Sometimes some people will make assumptions based on one thing that they know about you. Fair enough, sometimes it is automatic or subconscious but a decent person would realise that these assumptions may be wrong. I, for example, have a friend whose sister was negative to him about me when she first new where I came from but, being an open-minded person, she met me and we get on very well. She is glad that her brother has such a good friend. It is unfortunate however that there appear to be less people like that than otherwise.

In the beginning there was a word and the word was with God. But we don't know which word. But fortunately we now have unlimited words to use in our communication, and we may know little about those words. I guess even Shakespeare would not have memorized the entire dictionary and started writing literature. Its up to one's discretion what kind of word that he or she wants to use to express his or her views/thoughts when communicating. And i for one would not understand why the person at the receiving end should feel offended or think the other way around. But again words usage has its limit. You can't use formal or business words in a day to day communication or conversation to be precise and vice-versa: it would sound too sloppy to use informal words in business. Besides, we really should continue learning as much as we can because as I said no one ever would have been aware of all the words in the English world. Having said that I would not mind when people can express their thoughts in one big word rather than listening to an entire paragraph. It makes us easier in many ways...saves time and saves pain in the btt moments.