People Who Try Too Hard To Sound Smart Often Use These 11 Phrases When They Talk To You
Dean Drobot | Shutterstock Many people who try very hard to sound smarter than they are and rely on overconfident behaviors to convince people chronically overpromise and underperform, according to a study from the Journal of Intelligence. They use complicated language, loudness, and a sense of overconfidence to assert their dominance, whether it’s in the workplace or personal conversations, even if it’s entirely fake and misleading.
In contrast to intelligent people, who are often intellectually humble and intentionally simple with language, people who try too hard to sound smart often use certain phrases when they talk to you. Usually dismissive of people’s concerns and misleading in their confidence, these phrases are a form of gaslighting, even if they don’t realize it. They’re a performance that compensates for their insecurity, which also tends to sabotage their chances at personal growth and success.
People who try too hard to sound smart often use these 11 phrases when they talk to you
1. ‘Let me break it down for you’
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By placing themselves on a higher wavelength or status than their counterparts, people trying hard to sound smart can amplify their own self-image. They make themselves feel more superior to the people around them, even if that only means leveraging invalidating behaviors that isolate them from community and connection.
The heart of healthy conversations is feeling heard and allowing other people to feel safe to share their thoughts. However, people who try too hard to sound smart often use phrases like “let me break it down for you” that urge other people to feel insecure in their contributions to conversations.
2. ‘It’s simple logic’
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People who are overconfident in their skills and abilities tend to overestimate their competence. Whether it’s a lack of self-awareness or a means of coping with insecurity, they often use rigid rules and expectations — like “logical” thinking and a correctness binary — to safeguard the image they’re portraying to others.
They subconsciously invalidate other people’s contributions and thoughts with phrases like “it’s simple logic,” even when the most casual conversations are typically anything but straightforward. Their truly intelligent counterparts think deeply and complexly in their conversations, so, of course, they avoid this kind of rhetoric, even when they’re annoyed with other people’s ignorance or simplicity.
3. ‘It’s actually simple, if you understand it correctly’
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The nuances of “right” and “wrong” beliefs aren’t just tied to moral beliefs and values — they also follow people into the workplace and into their casual conversations about seemingly straightforward topics. Truly intelligent people are curious and often think deeply and complexly about seemingly simple topics; they care about considering the bigger picture and not immediately accepting that something is inherently right or wrong.
However, the rigidity of this correctness or wrongness is helpful for people trying to seem smarter than they are. If they are “correct” about something, they are superior and irrefutably intelligent, but if complex thinkers push back and ask questions, that self-image is at risk.
That’s why they often rely on phrases like “it’s actually simply, if you understand it correctly” to soothe their inner turmoil and isolate other people from sabotaging their crafted self-image.
4. ‘You’re oversimplifying things’
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Many people who try to seem smarter than they actually are rely on overcomplicating things to hide their ignorance. They use corporate speech and overcomplicated language to make other people confused, so they have room to change their minds and shift their perspectives. Even if what they’re speaking about is entirely wrong or misleading, they have the power to change the narrative.
These phrases aren’t intended to make conversations more accessible and simple for other people to collaborate with — they’re intended to make them more exclusive. For people coping with their own insecurity in misguided ways, feeling important and admired is important, and if it means ushering other people out, they don’t mind.
5. ‘Everyone knows this’
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To truly make people feel empowered and comfortable, you have to frame ideas and explain things in a way that makes sense for them to understand. However, people who try too hard to sound smart are too focused on crafting their own self-image to bring other people into conversations and make interactions accessible for everyone.
As a study from the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology explains, truly intelligent people are open-minded by nature. They care about speaking to people with different opinions and making conversations accessible to expand their knowledge.
People who try to sound smart, but are really compensating for low self-esteem inside, do the opposite — trying to make themselves feel better with close-minded perceptions of what “intelligence” manifests as.
6. ‘That’s a common mistake’
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Typically used to invalidate another person’s contribution to a conversation or to assert their own superiority, people who try too hard to sound smart often use phrases like “that’s a common mistake” when they talk to you. They prefer to make peers feel insecure and doubtful rather than to face those complex feelings themselves.
Even if it’s an invalidation of another person’s emotion, like their stress or concerns, these interactions can quickly become a larger issue — hurting mental health and relationships on a deep level, as a study from Anxiety, Stress, & Coping explains.
7. ‘It’s more nuanced than that’
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Especially around truly intelligent people who try to simplify hard topics and make their conversations approachable for everyone, regardless of their status or skill level, people trying to sound smart will use phrases like “it’s more nuanced than that” to seem superior.
They overcompensate for their self-esteem struggles, as psychology educator Kendra Cherry explains, even if it means making conversations more exclusive and encouraging other people to feel “left out” when they contribute.
8. ‘You’re not understanding’
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According to a study from Santa Clara University, complex emotions like sadness or shame often provoke overconfident behaviors, typically used as a coping mechanism. In the face of this emotional turmoil, it can feel impossible to consider the bigger picture of how your “survival” behaviors are negatively affecting others.
So, when a person tries too hard to sound smart and cope with their sadness, they use phrases like “you’re not understanding,” but what they really mean is, “Why aren’t you making me feel better by accepting my words at face value?” Whether it’s criticism or harmless pushback on their ideas, they believe all of these things are personal attacks.
9. ‘I just operate on a higher mindset’
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According to a study from Intelligence, truly intelligent people are often more pro-social than their low-IQ counterparts, largely because they know how to make people feel seen, heard, and understood in passing conversations.
However, people who try too hard to sound smart often use phrases like “I just operate on a higher mindset” that sabotage their chances at truly connecting with people. They are too focused on promoting their own specific narrative and self-image to consider how their behaviors harm others.
10. ‘You have to think more critically about it’
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Even though intelligent people often simplify complex topics into more digestible, understandable words, people trying hard to mimic intelligence use phrases like “you have to think more critically about it” to make everything more complicated.
They need to feel important and powerful, even if it means isolating others and making them feel dumb in important meetings and conversations.
11. ‘That’s an emotional response’
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Emotions are an inherent part of our lives because they are a natural part of our human experience. From the workplace to personal relationships, logic only gets you so far. If you suppress all your emotions and only appeal to the “book,” everyone suffers. Nobody feels seen or heard because their humanity is not addressed.
That’s why tangible intelligence and emotional intelligence are inherently interconnected — the curiosity and humanity of these people bleeds into their everyday language and habits. However, people who try too hard to sound smart often use phrases like “that’s an emotional response” when they talk to you.
They demonize people’s emotions in favor of logic — that they can manipulate and shift in their favor — even if, in reality, it only harms their self-image.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a senior editorial strategist with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
