On Smarm
“Eschew Obfuscation” is a classic example of something that drives me crazy: the tendency some people of have lording over others by using obtuse terms in an effort to sound clever or smart.
Why do I care? It isn’t because I trouble understanding people that are smarter than me, or that I have difficulty following conversations. My vocabulary is measurably sophisticated compared to most people and (to quote one of my professors) extremely high compared to most engineers.
The simple fact of the matter is that being intentionally obtuse or obscure is counter productive, and a waste of time that I generally do not have.
I firmly believe that it is everyone’s duty to make knowledge as accessible as possible to others. We can do this by speaking plainly and not trying to show off how smart and inscruitable we are.