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?

    • anon6789@lemmy.world
      5·
      2 months ago

      I think you nailed this one. Poser was my first thought, but a poser is someone who fakes an interest to fit in. Dilettante has that gatekeeping aspect to it, which seems important to OP’s description.

      • Mothra@mander.xyzOP
        3·
        2 months ago

        Exactly yes thanks. Gatekeeping is one of those words I tend to forget it exists

    • baskets18@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 months ago

      I agree with this, but it lacks the ‘pretentious air’ about the individual. A charlatan or poser equally partially describes this. This actually seems to be a missing term.

    • Mothra@mander.xyzOP
      2·
      2 months ago

      Yesss yes yes yes I think you’ve nailed it thank you! I didn’t know this word, I’ve read the definition and it suits quite well.

  • underline960@sh.itjust.works
    7·
    2 months ago

    I actually like that the right word is as basic as poser.

    They’d like to have a special name, but they’re literally just a bog-standard poser.

  • quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    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.

  • essell@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 months ago

    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”

  • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    67·
    2 months ago

    A confident, average, but nonetheless well-rounded individual with broad interests?

    Seems like the word you’re looking for is ‘normal’.

    Unless there’s some other quality you’re not describing like if they’re unable to admit when they’re wrong or they lie or exaggerate their skills, they seem like a pretty nice person to me who just for whatever reason doesn’t specialize in any one thing, which tbf is far more normal for people than otherwise and frankly far more sociable.

    You seem a bit jealous of and upset at this person judging by your other comments ITT. What do you have against them, other than them ‘liking to pose as an intellectual’ - which I assume just stands for “they like facts”?

    • beastlykings@sh.itjust.works
      5·
      2 months ago

      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.