Extra word of the day: Pseudointellectual

Pseudointellectual is a pejorative term used to describe someone who engages in false intellectualism or is intellectually dishonest. The term is often, though not always, used to describe one who regularly critiques the work of professionals, while lacking the requisite background knowledge and experience to have an informed opinion. Synonyms for this character include sophist, and in medical terms, mountebank and quack.

A pseudointellectual may affect traits that he stereotypically associates with persons of intellectual privilege, such as the display of books, classical music and art or the use of complex language, for the purpose of seeming intellectual.

Blind criticism of popular consumer products and mass market products cannot be considered pseudointellectualism, as most popular products do not profess to appeal to the intellectual. Yet blanket calumnies against popular culture genres generally perceived as intellectually complex, in favor of some older genre solely for its historical age exemplify the actions of a pseudointellectual.

Someone who comments on, or is knowledgeable of, disciplines outside his or her own field of study is not a pseudointellectual, as long as he or she is intellectually honest and does not misrepresent his or her own background and understanding of the subject. For example, polymaths are not considered pseudointellectuals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudointellectual