If you think using big words will impress, you are wrong.

Daniel Oppenheimer’s 2006 study “Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly,” (which won the Ig Nobel Prize) concludes that people who use complicated language when simple words will do tend to be viewed as less intelligent than those who use a more basic vocabulary.

This doesn’t mean you should forget all those big words you know. “I think it’s important to point out that this study is not about problems with using long words, it’s about problems with using long words needlessly,” Oppenheimer explains. “If the best way to say something involves using a complex word, then by all means do so. But if there are several equally valid ways of expressing your ideas, you should go with the simpler one.”

Here is an example of two sentences used in the study. Readers were asked to rate the intelligence of each writer.

“The primary academic goal I have set for myself is to use my potential to the fullest.”

“The principal educational aspiration I have established for myself is to utilize my capabilities to the fullest.”

The results: When people read simpler language, they actually rate the author’s intelligence higher than they do those who write using large words and a more complex sentence structure. Oppenheimer suspects people link intelligence with simpler language because we like to read things that are easy to understand.

So if we see others who use simple language as more intelligent, why do so many feel they are demonstrating their own intelligence by using big words?