Do you have to "dum" down when you talk/chat to friends

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Honestly... ya, a bit. I tend to find a lot of highly intellectual people not very fun to hang around with. When I'm talking to some of my friends, I purposefully don't use words I'm pretty sure they won't know so they won't get uncomfortable. And I don't bring up topics which I know they're ignorant about.
Which is fine since I can use those with my family (my homelife is an I'm-smarter-than-you contest) or in papers.

Reply 21

RobertPires

D3M!

My heart can't take too much of that , I feel like sitting down in my shower and crying whenever I have to do that.

It's the load you have to carry if you want to be both intelligent and socially accepted. It's irritating though.

Reply 22

Cupcakee

No, however they do assume I'm dumb as I'm the blonde one in the group, in reality though I have always been in the top sets

Reply 23

izaldo

I am informal most of the time so it's more that I 'formalise' when the situation requires it!

Reply 24

username196545

It depends tbh. If I ever spoke to my best friend about Politics, it's along the line of: "Socialists are left wing. Left wing means...." that kinda stuff. Or the other day I had to explain to a (Lebanese!) friend the difference between Israel and Palestine (ie, they're not the same). So yeah, often I do.

But then, I have some friends who are 10x more intelligent than me.

Reply 25

fallen angel9

Yeah, apparently I use 'posh words'.

Reply 26

JFJ

hahaha... seriously, way to conform.

Reply 27

captainlumpy

Nah, my friends tend to be more clever than me.

Reply 28

Apfel

Convergence. I do it. :\

If a friend types properly, I'll say, "I'm on The Student Room right now, but it's rather boring. :P"
If a friend types in chat speak, I'll say, "i'm on the student room right now but it's a bit boring lol :P"

Not a big difference, but there you go.

Reply 29

smiley:)

Ha i do, unles they are annoying me then i delibratly talk about really intelligent things then ask them their views on it. they are school drop outs so i never really get an intelligent answer. but then again they just have to ask me about whats in the charts at the moment and im sure i wouldnt give them a very intelligent answer either!

Reply 30

fire2burn

There are a few friends who are lets say are a little air headed with regards to the world and the things that go on in it. I don't necessarily dumb down my vocabulary when chatting to them, I just refrain from discussing topics in too greater a depth so as not to make them feel uncomfortable.

Reply 31

Princesschickenbelly

Quite the opposite. I find it hard trying to sound like I'm smart enough to have the friends I do :frown:

Reply 32

TheGimpMan

i make up words that sound clever so as to confizzle my friends and seem highly intellectualligent.

Reply 33

Glutamic Acid

I do it subconsciously with most people, and it disgusts me. Just simple alterations such as slurring my words or dropping a syllable in "batteries" or instinctively saying "alright" as a greeting when stylistically I'm not a proponent of any of those things. I don't do this with everyone; just in informal settings with people I don't know or with people who do the same; and if I'm local, the latter is nearly always. But if I feel comfortable talking this doesn't happen so often, though my speech is riddled with dialectal errors and general errors.

Reply 34

elldee

A lot of the time, only because I don't want to be judged as some linguistic ponce, not because they don't have the capability of understanding the way I spek.

Reply 35

utare

Most of my friends are intellectuals, and know words ive never heard of so no i don't

Reply 36

nasri-diaby

My friends can spell 'dumb', but I get your point.

Maybe a bit.

Reply 37

danadd9

Spelt 'dumb' wrong. :drool:

Reply 38

D3M!

danadd9

Spelt 'dumb' wrong. :drool:

hence the quotation marks.

Reply 39

the_man_himself

RobertPires

I dum down whenever I talk to pretty much anyone. People don't like people who are smarter than them. I also pretend not to know things so that people can tell me this fascinating new information they've learnt.