Language has been enriched with such terms as "highbrow", "egghead", "blue-stocking", "wiseacre", "know-all", "boffin" and, for many, "intellectual" is a term of denigration.

因为这些词语，比如，“卖弄知识的人”、“书呆子”、“女才子”、“自认聪明的人”、“自以为无所不知的人”，以及“研究员”，语言都变得丰富了起来，而且对大多数人来说，“知识分子”是一个诋毁的词语。