Being able to explain a subject in a way that is accessible to laypeople is a better indicator that you understand your field than being able to use all of the big words and dense, pedagogical language you learned in your grad class. People say they understand the difference between intelligence and education, then they turn around and claim a subject is too complex for someone who never went to college. No, it probably isn't! You just don't understand enough about your own field to determine what concepts are essential to a basic understanding. You're just too preoccupied with how educated and correct you want to sound, and you won't take the time to consider the knowledge background of your audience and alter your language to fit.
I talked to a biologist a couple days ago, who said she felt stupid for asking me what linguistics even was. My first attempt to explain didn't land very well, but she said she knew people who did speech pathology. "Okay," I said. "If linguistics is like wildlife biology, speech pathology is veterinary science." Boom, instant comprehension.
I keep Randall Munroe's Thing Explainer on my coffee table. It explains literal rocket science using only the 1000 most common English words. Go read Simple Wikipedia. It's a version of Wikipedia targeted toward people who speak English as a second language and don't have very broad vocabularies. It's still manages to explain incredibly complex subjects.
Language is a tool that we use to move information from one person to another. If that information isn't moving, we aren't using the language correctly. If the language you want to use is more important to you than being understood, why even open your mouth?
In a world where education is often intentionally and systematically attacked and dismantled, we have to remember that people aren't getting stupider. They're just getting less educated. That means that getting through to people, getting them to understand essential issues in our society, requires us to let go of ego and meet people where they are. They're smart enough to learn. Are you smart enough to teach?
