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There is an old saying, "Bullshit baffles brains." The expression suggests that if you talk confidently enough, use enough complicated language, or provide enough unnecessary information, you can overwhelm people into believing that you know more than you actually do.

Sometimes it works, but there is a flaw in the strategy. It assumes that the person listening is incapable of recognising what is happening. Not everyone is.

In fact, the more someone tries to sound intelligent without actually saying anything meaningful, the more they may expose themselves to someone who understands the subject. Jargon can conceal a lack of knowledge from the uninformed, but it can make that lack of knowledge glaringly obvious to someone who knows what they are listening for.

The experienced listener is often not impressed by how much someone says. They are listening for whether the person actually answers the question.

They notice when an explanation becomes unnecessarily complicated. They notice when a speaker changes the subject rather than addressing the issue. They notice when confidence replaces evidence, and when words are being used to create an impression rather than communicate information.

Ironically, the attempt to appear knowledgeable can become the evidence that someone is not.

True expertise rarely needs to hide behind excessive language. People who genuinely understand something can usually make it clearer, not more complicated.

Perhaps that is the greatest misunderstanding behind the saying.

Bullshit does not baffle brains. It only baffles people who allow confusion to substitute for understanding, and sometimes the person trying hardest to sound intelligent is unknowingly providing the most accurate evidence of how little they actually understand.