Malleable thinking

Today was an unreal day at work (actually the whole week has been like this). I have been in my job for 7 months now and have built good working relationships with almost everyone. I still struggle with a few (and they struggle with me, I'm sure), but this week has been really ouchy.

Example: I used the word "malleable" today in a meeting and half the attendants burst out laughing (because this isn't the first time I've used unfamilar words) and asked me to explain it in "plain language".

1. Is "malleable" such an unusual word as to strike the general population as confusing?

2. Didn't women making fun of other women for being too smart go out of style in the eighth grade?

3. I know many, many people much smarter than I am. How do they feel?

I refuse to dumb down my speech. I already have to simplify my writing to appeal to the audience for whom I write. So, in future posts, expect more angst on my part as I whip out "erudite" and "perfidious" between the hours of 9-5.

As a side note, I know how to read/write more words than I can pronounce, so I love Merriam-Webster's online dictionary with audio pronunciation.

'Night