After a speech by a very well-educated individual, I asked my friend next to me what he thought of it, to which he responded: "It was really good. I didn't understand anything he was talking about, so it must have been good."
I was very concerned about this statement, and it made me think about what makes someone smart. Is it really their relative intelligence, or how much they can trick you by using large words and foreign concepts?
If someone really has a grasp of what they are talking about, they should be able to make complex ideas simple, explaining them clearly and accurately the first time. Generally, I think that if you can use a shorter word to say the same thing, do it - unnecessarily long words or sentences complicate your ideas.
This video of a scientist making fun of people who bolster their presentations with large words and complicated diagrams sums it all up:
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