This is a lazy blog post, and I hope this isn&#x27;t used as a launching point for further discussion. The article in question is many times more substantive, and alexandercrohde rebuts with a caricature and no facts to anchor upon.<p>I&#x27;d also say that when people say things I don&#x27;t understand in a domain that I&#x27;m interested in, that&#x27;s normally a sign that there&#x27;s a gap in my knowledge. Of course people bullshit competency, but I doubt it&#x27;s through verbiage alone. Almost all the time, when I later go back to read what people were talking about, I come to understand that they were not bullshitters. In my experience, people who can talk in a complicated way without knowing what they&#x27;re talking about are exceedingly rare. There are a lot of smart <i>and</i> knowledgeable people all over, and it seems almost impossible to hide behind complicated speech, hoping nobody knows that you&#x27;re ignorant.<p>People might have a mean attitude of &quot;Either you keep up with the lingo of the field or don&#x27;t&quot;, but that doesn&#x27;t mean they&#x27;re bullshitting. And it&#x27;s better to use an established &quot;25 cent&quot; word than your own idiosyncratic &quot;1 cent&quot; word. I mean, how else is that person going to Google or later verify what you&#x27;re saying?