Big Words Don't Make You Smart

When I comes right down to it, a person's lexicon (vocabulary) does not define their intelligence.

I have had an engrossment in vocabulary and writing my whole life. As a result of that, my lexicon is voluminous correlated to the people whom encircle me.

To a normal person, the words I have already used in this blog post could seem patronizing. However, I have used them purposely in order to make my point.

Using large words that aren't common in every day life can make a person stand out. A common person with a normal education tends to use simple terms that can be easily explained. Once someone breaks out large words that many people wouldn't understand without a dictionary, the people around them start to feel inferior and perceive the person with the stronger vocabulary to be smarter than they actually are.

For example, I consider one of my best friends to be extremely intelligent. She gets high grades and performs excellently in everything she does. However, her vocabulary is far limited when compared to someone like myself, who can be considered to have normal to slightly above average intelligence. Since I tend to use longer, uncommon words(especially in writing), my intelligence is generally perceived to be greater than it actually is. Though in reality, I am a writer who studied Latin and has a knack at defining words previously unseen or commonly unused in daily conversation.

Writers tend to have a vast vocabulary because it is their job. Comparing their vocabulary to that of another profession can seem unfair. In the same light, comparing a scientific dictionary to a cooking dictionary isn't an accurate representation either. If you are a professional chef, you will most likely understand and use terms that a normal person wouldn't understand.

The smartest person in the world, theoretically, could have the most basic vocabulary. That doesn't make them any less intelligent than a brain surgeon.

People use their vocabularies for different purposes. Using large words that an every day person wouldn't understand doesn't really make you smarter than the people you use them on. At most, it only puts a linguistic shield between you and the next person. Language is a form of communication between living things. If you only use a large/uncommon vocabulary you are eliminating the communication aspect of language.

Big words don't make you smart. They only help a person create a false opinion about your intelligence and sadly, fake intelligence paired with a vast lexicon gets you no where.

Nothing special, but still meaningful.

Much love,
Elly


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Dorm Life Wasn't For Me

One of the biggest parts of growing up, moving out, and going to university is the dorm life experience. I just finished my second year at university and my second/last year of living in a dormitory. After living in dorms for two years, I can honestly say I didn't enjoy the experience.

DISCLAIMER: I am a very reserved, studious, and introverted person. My opinions might be skewed compared to what you as a reader might have.

When I left high school, I was completely excited to move out and go to school. Honestly, I think what I was most excited for was the dorm life. Aside from academics, I chose my university because of the seemingly wonderful dorms. I, however, didn't choose a normal dorm (which also may lead to skewed opinions). I was in what is called a "suite". I shared a kitchen and bathroom with one roommate and we also had separate bedrooms.

Like I said before, I am a very reserved person as well as constantly making YouTube videos, so having my own room was the perfect thing for me. Besides going through two very different roommates my first year, I loved living in my dorm. It seemed like the only place on campus where I could do everything.

However, as my second year rolled around my love for my dorm soon changed. I was on my third roommate now (who was lovely btw) and I thought things would be the same. Sadly, I was wrong.

By my second year in the dorms I grew tired of university food. Since my kitchen had only a microwave and no stove, it made my food options drop drastically. I craved for the opportunity to cook my own healthy meals (the only healthy option on campus is salad and I can no longer eat their salads after eating them two years straight). This may not technically sound like a big deal for why I disliked dorm life, but not having a stove (and other kitchen appliances) is one of the biggest reasons.

Aside from little things like not having a bathtub, fire drills at 3am, and floor meetings, another thing I wasn't a fan of was living in such close proximity to everyone in my building. In a dorm, the walls are so thin that you can hear conversations word for word through the walls. When you have loud boys next door who enjoy fighting, video games, and degrading women in their personal lives or even as they walk down the hall, you can easily get annoyed.

On a similar note, I did enjoy living so close to all my classes, however, you also have to take note of the traffic sounds and yelling from people outside since it is in the center of campus; which made it difficult to film videos.

These are just a few of the things I didn't like, and I could go into more, but I'll stop there.

I just want to say that despite not liking the whole dorm experience, I still would recommend trying it for at least a year. I loved my first year because of the convenience. It was an easy transition. However, for a person like me, the second year seemed almost like torture.

For my last two years at university I am moving into a house about 1.5 miles off campus and I expect to like it a lot better there. Additionally, just because I had certain problems in my two years of dorm life does not mean my experiences reflect all dorm life experiences. I know plenty of people who would never even consider moving out of their dorms.

Dorms are a very social scene, much like the whole of college and they are not for everyone.

Nothing special, but still meaningful.

Much love,
Elly


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