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Comment by nmeagent | Hacker News Reader

I would bet real cash money that many many people, including your coworkers, think that anyone who unironically uses the term "midwit" is completely and totally obnoxious.

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Recently saw a podcast about the rise of "AI midwits". The guy's point was that it's good to become a midwit, because it's a stage between knowing nothing and knowing a lot, but an AI midwit just has the aesthetics of a midwit and none of the actual knowledge and is stuck there.

But I don't remember how he defined a midwit, because podcasts are a terrible way to convey knowledge. It might've been something like someone who acts like they know everything.

Mweh, I'm not a native English speaker. It's a definitely existing archetype, though, just like "Spießbürger" points at a thing in German.

If you use it in a work context (or any normal social context really) then yes, that is obnoxious. That doesn't mean it's not a real phenomenon.

Is he wrong though?

More cringe than obnoxious, but yeah.

People who uses the word "obnoxious" are also obnoxious. There are many unpleasant words, you have to use some of them and people don't like any of them.

The word “obnoxious” does not carry the connotation of smug superiority that “midwit” does.

Would you refer to someone as a midwit in a typical office environment and expect your professional reputation to remain intact? If you were to do this on an ongoing basis for whatever reason, how long before you're asked to have a little chat with the folks in HR? Would you then attempt to explain it away as one of those unpleasant words that you just had to use? I want to be there for that conversation.

Engaging in direct open conflict in a sanitized environment like an office is shooting yourself in the foot. Different norms for different rooms.

Corporate offices are low trust environments where people do not really openly speak directly in any negative way (for basically the reason you've illustrated), so I wouldn't use them as any kind of standard for normal social interaction.

> I wouldn't use them as any kind of standard for normal social interaction

Workplaces are where many of us spend a large percentage of our waking lives. So, it is "normal," unfortunately. This is why HR language and norms have broken containment into the non-work world. (Whether that's a good thing is another question.)

Different context, different politeness rules. I bet you're fun at parties. An online forum is a relaxed space, like a town pub. HR isn't breathing down our necks here. Personal attacks are a different sort of thing. Using a word to describe in a comment some abstract situations and kinds of characters you see at the office is not a personal attack.

There is not one single discourse norm to rule them all and calling out every little thing as too offensive is just annoying. Yeah, yeah there are no midwits, everyone is a unique little genius flower, yeah.

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