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Hey everyone, and welcome back 
to the Understandable English 

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Podcast. 
I'm Oliver, and today we are 

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going to be talking about words 
that make you sound smarter. 

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OK, this sounds a little bit 
strange or a different kind of 

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strange topic for the podcast 
today, but what I am going to be

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doing is reading or looking at 
an article from Prepley which is

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based on a study of words that 
make you sound smarter. 

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This study study is some 
research. 

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It is an experiment or a trial 
or an academic paper which is 

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looking at results. 
It is testing something and 

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analyzing or seeing the results 
from it. 

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So that is how I would explain a
study or a scientific study, and

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this study was carried out in 
America to see what words that 

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people used to sound smart and 
what words that people think 

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make others sound more 
intelligent or smarter. 

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I thought this might be 
interesting because perhaps you 

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would want to use some of these 
words or understand them. 

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So let's take a look. 
First, the article talks about 

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how using some of these advanced
words can show others that you 

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are quite intelligent or smart, 
or it can also kind of give the 

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impression that you are trying 
very hard to appear smart, so to

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make people think that you're 
smart even if you aren't. 

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And it can be viewed negatively 
as well. 

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From the study carried out, they
find that almost three out of 

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five people used complex, so 
complicated or difficult 

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vocabulary to try to appear 
smarter. 

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That's very interesting. 
And almost 60% of people have 

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used a word to sound more 
intelligent or smarter, even if 

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they didn't know what the word 
meant. 

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That's crazy. 
But there was another question 

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in this study and they asked 
people that if someone uses 

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complex so more difficult or 
complicated vocabulary or words,

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does it make them seem smarter 
to you? 

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And almost 80% of people said 
yes, that they do think that 

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someone is more intelligent or 
smarter if they use complex 

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vocabulary. 
So let's take a look at the top 

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five words from the survey of 
which people use to sound 

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smarter from this research of 
speech. 

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OK, so we'll look at 5. 
I will read each one and then 

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explain what it means and we 
will start for #5 and work our 

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way up to #1 which is the most 
popular. 

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OK, Are you ready? 
Let's go #5 is adulation. 

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Adulation. 
It will be in the subtitles on 

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this podcast and if you're 
watching on YouTube, you can see

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the correct spelling. 
So adulation and what this 

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means. 
The exact definition is 

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excessive admiration or praise. 
So when someone is like really a

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big fan, they are admiring and 
loving what you do or who you 

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are. 
For example, a rock star or an 

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actor may dislike adulation from
their fans because the fans care

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or love so much the rock star or
the actor or the star. 

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It's too much praise, too much 
attention and love from those 

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fans. 
So that's what adulation is. 

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It's like intense or too much 
admiration or praise. 

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OK #4 The 4th most commonly used
complicated word to sound smart 

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or intelligent is anomaly. 
Anomaly and anomaly from the 

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official definition is something
that deviates so is different 

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from what is standard, normal or
expected. 

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For example, he was an anomaly 
in the group because he was the 

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only one that had blue eyes. 
Everyone else had brown eyes. 

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He had blue eyes, so he was the 
anomaly. 

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OK, number free is the word 
brevity, brevity. 

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And Simply put, to say something
or write something with brevity 

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is to not use too many words and
to be very exact or precise with

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your use of words. 
So you're being very straight to

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the point and not over 
explaining or over using words. 

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And #2 is accolade accolade. 
An accolade is an award or maybe

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a prestige or a privilege which 
is given to someone to 

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acknowledge or recognize 
something that they have done or

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achieved. 
So you can think of it really in

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general, in most cases as an 
award or a prestige. 

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So that is accolade. 
For example, he has won a number

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of accolades for his work, so a 
number of awards. 

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And finally, the number one most
used more complicated vocabulary

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or word to sound more smart is 
articulate. 

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Articulate. 
So this is actually a great word

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in my opinion. 
I think it's a very good 

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description word and it is an 
adjective to sort of show the 

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ability that someone speaks 
fluently and clearly, like very 

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well. 
So this speaker is articulate, 

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they speak fluently and very 
well, very clear, easy to 

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understand, perhaps a great 
communicator. 

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OK, so that was the top five 
words that people use to sound 

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smarter. 
These were difficult, so let me 

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know if you will try to use them
or maybe you just want to 

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understand them. 
But always remember, 

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communicating in English is not 
about using fancy words or 

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complicated vocabulary. 
It's about understanding each 

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other and speaking in a way that
is natural and comfortable for 

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ourselves. 
If we try to speak in an 

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overcomplicated way in 
situations or social positions 

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where we don't have to, it will 
sound quite strange. 

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You know, perhaps when we are 
doing academic English or 

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business English, using more 
complicated words is fine, but 

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if we are just talking with 
friends or having a casual 

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conversation in a shop, it's a 
little bit strange to use words 

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that people might not even 
understand. 

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So do keep that in mind as you 
study English. 

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Don't overcomplicated what? 
Oh, don't overcomplicate what 

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you are trying to say. 
Say it clearly, directly, and in

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a way that is natural for you 
and to others. 

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I hope this was interesting in 
some way. 

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If you are new, make sure to 
check out my YouTube channel in 

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the description below. 
I post real life vlogs in 

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English on that Channel. 
They are easy English vlogs 

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where I speak just like here in 
a clear and easy way to 

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understand. 
So please check that out. 

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Thank you very much for 

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listening and have a wonderful 
day. 

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Goodbye.