Can you help me find the right word to describe this annoying person?
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I think it is what in Spain we call an "enterao", but I could be wrong.
I'm not sure how to translate it, maybe as "a heard about", a guy that always has heard about whatever and thinks his info is much better or knows a better way to do anything.
En Chile es "alumbra(d)o", que se da "brillo" o importancia.
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I think the point you might be missing from the OP, is that the person in question doesn't actually possess this knowledge or skill, but instead of being humble and admitting the gaps in their knowledge, perhaps asking a question or two when they don't understand, they just plow ahead.
I know people like this. It's not malicious I don't think, maybe it's more of a defense mechanism? They don't want to look uninformed, so they try to fill the gaps in their knowledge with assumptions. Maybe they're right a decent amount of the time, or close enough to fool people who aren't knowledgeable on the subject. But people who are knowledgeable, will recognize what they're doing, and the lack of humility comes across as arrogance, even though that may not strictly be the case.
It's normal to know a lot of stuff and like a wide variety of things. But you need to be humble when you don't know something.
When I don't know something for sure, I like to say "I think it's this way, but I could be wrong." Or something like that. Or heck, if someone else has the knowledge and skills I don't, I'm right up there asking questions, I want to learn. Maybe I'll try to impress them with what little I do know on the subject by commenting or asking questions in a way that shows I understand what they're talking about, because we all want to have self worth. But faking it isn't cool, and can be harmful, or just annoying.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Oh yeah for sure, if they're spewing falsehoods to cover their ass, that's no good.
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
If you've got a black cat, they've got a blacker cat?
If you've been to Tenerife they've been to Elevenerife?
I call that "one-up-manship"
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
The word is arrogant:-
'having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities.'
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
I'd probably call them lost or insecure.
Most people with behaviors like that do it as a defense mechanism.
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The word is arrogant:-
'having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities.'
I always called them "arrogant for no reason"
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
Grandiose delusional
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
Elitism?
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
This sounds like the type of person I would refer to as a know-it-all.
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Bombastic? Pretentious? Braggart?
OP's hypothetical person is explicitly assertive. Pretentious doesn't convey assertion. You can be pretentious internally and keep it to yourself.
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Braggart
I don't think a braggart is necessarily lacking the skills/knowledge they claim to have
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I always called them "arrogant for no reason"
Isn't the "for no reason" baked into the word arrogant already? If their behavior was justified it would just be called confident.
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
Agreeing with arrogant as the best word for this
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
A shining wit?
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
Superiority complex.
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What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.
It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?
A pretentious prick
