No Such Thing As "Big Words"

In one of my classes last week, I used a rather simple word to understand during a discussion:  essentially.  Someone's response was, "Don't use such big words."  Seriously?  If you're in college and you don't even know what the word "essentially" means by now, why are you in college?  There is no such thing as "big words."  Besides, college is the place to use big words!  They're not "big words"; they are educated words.  There are common words, then there are educated words.  For example, a common word is obvious.  An educated synonym of the word would be palpable, but someone ignorant would say, "That's a big word; don't use it."  A big word would be something like:  supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.  That's a big word.  And believe me, I know much more "bigger" words than essentially.  Sure, my vocabulary is more extensive than most people my age (I'm 25), but I don't think that makes me better than everyone else, and neither do I expect everyone to understand every "big word" I use.  The only reason why I know these words is because I read a lot.  In other words, I educate myself.  And there are plenty of words that I don't know what they mean.  The solution to that problem is to look it up in the dictionary.  There were a copious amount of words I didn't know when I read a lot of C.S. Lewis's books, but I looked them up in order to understand what he was talking about.  Uh oh, I used another big word:  copious.  Try not to die.

I just find it annoying when people tell me not to use "big words," and I'll tell you exactly why.  Growing up, I was looked down upon a lot because I'm biracial.  Back in those days, you got a lot more crap for being biracial than those who were just black.  So growing up, a lot of people expected me to be this uneducated, unintelligent nigger or wetback (even though I'm half Puerto Rican, not Mexican).  Growing up, I was called nigger, worthless, and stupid.  I believed those voices for the longest time.  I believed that I was incapable of being smart and worthy of love.  Whenever I met someone white I couldn't help but think of the colour of my skin as a hindrance to mattering.  It wasn't until much later through the guidance, care, and love of my amazing parents that I first began to believe the opposite.  In spite of their numerous efforts, it took them a long time to help me realise that I'm not a worthless, stupid nigger.  (It's not their fault it took a long time either; they did their best.).  Later on I realised how God sees me in Christ, but my parents' help was the first step.  And now, I never think about the colour of my skin unless someone brings it up, and someone always feels the need to bring it up.  Upon this liberating realisation, my freshman year of high school was the first time I realised that I really am smart.  So I took it upon myself to self-educate — to study, read books, and by golly I will use educated words (or "big words") when they are applicable.  I'm an educated man, so I speak like one.  So I'll be damned if someone tells me to not use "big words."  If you don't understand, get a dictionary.  There's literally an app for that; I use my dictionary on my iPhone all the time.

So by writing this I encourage self-education, and I also exhort you not to tell me to stop using "big words" if you ever hear me use any.

You may disagree with me, but this is all just Food for Thought.