Does how "smart" someone talks change how intelligent you feel they are?

For the most part, yes. Then there's other people who may have a big vocabulary, but no common sense.

 

I find text speech funny most of the time.
If some genius uses big words as if he was a pro at it, and he wasn't even trying, I do tend to admire that. But if someone who normally isn't like that does it, I don't buy it.

 

I will admt to dropping sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia into conversations, but only because it is fun to say.

 

How smart someone talks has more to do with how coherently, concisely and flexibly they can express ideas than what words they choose to do it, be it long obscure words or textspeak. So under that definition, yes, but under the word selection definition, no for the most part.

 

I've never been one 4 ppl who type liek dis and shit lol omfg #yolo*, but considering that I'm fluent in 1337 speak (read: "leet speak") and learning Chinese, which is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn, having difficulties understanding things is something I'm used to already.

To be frank, someone's speech only gives me an idea of how "cultured" they are. If someone pulls long words out of the thesaurus to make themselves look smarter, it only serves to make them look like a tool.

*FYI, the phrase should be YODO: You Only Die Once. The followers of YOLO-SWAGGERY (yes, in all caps) use the YOLO as an excuse for their stupidity, and stupidity isn't something I approve of.

 

I believe that everyone should possess basic grammar skills. There is no reason why anyone shouldn't be able to form a basic sentence. I work in the IT industry and I know a few colleagues who cannot write a formal e-mail to save their life! I will sometimes receive an SMS message that takes me several minutes to decipher, due to how poorly written it is.
For example "hey mn wats up u wanna go wit me tonite im going wit chris to tht new place to eat."

I'm not bothered so much when a person isn't very articulate in a causal conversation, but please know how to write in proper English. So to answer the question, yes, the way someone speaks does change my perception of said person.

 

Whether they speak eloquently, no. Whether they speak effectively, absolutely.

You can speak eloquently, but lack clarity or the ability to quickly articulate the statements you are attempting to make. As long as they speak with clarity and efficacy, I wouldn't assume them to be any less.

 

No, as long as they adaquetly get their message across. What changes how intelligent I feel someone is, is when I say something to them and they ask me to define 3 words out of my 6 word sentence

 

Eloquence is defined as being persuasive, fluent, and articulative. You can be eloquent without speaking properly (though I find it rare), but you can't be eloquent and unclear.

---------- Post added 9th Jul 2014 at 11:44 AM ----------

But knowledge of vocabulary isn't a measure of intelligence, merely the ability to express it in the relevant language. If I were to give you a sheet of Karelian poetry and you didn't understand it, that wouldn't mean that you're stupid.

 

No because people trying to sound smart always use the big words wrong. It's hilarious. I know quite a bit about obscure words and proper grammar, but I don't bother using them when I speak or write. For example earlier I could have said sesquipedalians instead of big words. But I didn't because nobody would have any frakking clue what I meant.

 

Yeah I will immediately dismiss someone as a poser if they sound like they've used a thesaurus to make sure they use obscure words as much as possible.

 

I thought I had a decent vocabulary, then I joined here and realized I am not that smart compared to you all. I endured 5 years of college, so I expect myself to be coherent. Those who are unable to string a sentence together aggravate me because it takes longer to understand what they say. Others judge you by the words you use; it's just how the world works.

 

Bonus points for when they use heaps of obscure words, but have terrible structure, incorrect prepositions, confusion of homophones or seem not to understand which tense to use.

 

In a way I can automatically detect whether a person is intelligent but that does not mean that I dismiss someone who has poor sentence construction, grammar or spelling in the English language as dumb because I know a few people who are terrible at it but can articulate well in their own native language. My grandmother, who has never been to school is an example.

 

I have a computer science bachelor's degree with a minor in mechanical engineering. I work in an industrial environment as a software engineer. I work with people with doctorates from ivy league schools and those who haven't finished high school. Education is absolutely no indication of intelligence. Did I mention I have a bachelors degree? Lol. Some of the smartest people I know curse like a sailor (some were lol), and have nothing exceeding middle or high school.

With many of the skilled trades people in my family as well as who I work with, they will make fun of you for purposely using complex words to try and sound smart. From what I've seen, many a bs artist can be identified from being Mr Grey Poupon hoity toity wordsmiths so I tend to side with my relatives and co-workers.

I think you have to be more smart to break down complex concepts into plain layman's terms than explain then in a way that goes over most people's heads.

 

*Observes one trait of an individual*

*Makes assumption about the entirety of one's personality based on this single trait*

Sounds familiar, no?

 

Almost never. People are usually complicated and there are many types of intelligence. I don't usually care if somebody swears a lot or adds 'lol' to the end of every other sentence. Hell, I don't even mind if they're 15 or 50 and using or ^_^ to convey stuff. I just want to see that a little effort was made and be able to understand what they're saying. It might send me to sleep if somebody talks like a professor.

I type how I talk. I think my speech is influenced by my thoughts (I think much more with feelings and images than words), the music I listen to, the books I read, and the slang I hear. Black/Death Metal varies wildly in terms of verbal fluency. And don't get me started on the Eurobeat music!

 

Simply put, no. Coherency is what I look for, if I judge someone's intelligence via speaking, before the words they select. Some people, despite their best efforts, sound more like they're reading from an ad lib sheet.

To make it simple, I'll give you examples. Our example sentence will be:

'Charles likes to take his dog for a walk in the park, before he goes to play basketball.'​

An intelligent-sounding way of saying that is:

'Charles enjoys keeping his dog active, by walking in the park, prior to playing basketball.'​

An attempt at intelligent-sounding is:

'Charles luxuriates when peregrinating with his canine, in the publicly accessible area,
which is anterior to his engaging in the particular activity of basketball.'​

A verbal/texting hot mess is:

'Mah boi cHarle. b likin 2 take da dawg out..........thn plyin bball.'​

An excessive use of cursing is:

'Fucking Charlies likes taking a fucking walk with his fucking dog, before his fucking game of motherfucking basketball'.​

A classy use of cursing is:

'Charles likes taking his dog for a walk in the park, before his game of basketball. Fuck Charles, that pretentious douche!'​

LOL. I had a good birthday, so, this is the result.

 

Happy Birthday! ...or should I say, You are 365 1/4 days older now huh?

 

I suppose that was poorly worded. It's not so much about their use of language lacking clarity, rather the actual substance behind their thoughts. On the topic of this thread, I believe the point I was trying to get across was that thoughts presented eloquently are not inherently intelligent or impressive when viewing them beyond the surface and considering their actual meaning.