Ultracrepidarianism

 

Ultracrepidarianism - giving opinions on subjects you know nothing about.

We all know people who are ultracrepidarians. It doesn't matter what the subject under discussion is, they weigh in as if they are an expert. 

The word in more literal translation from the Latin is 'beyond the shoe'. According to Mark Forsyth in The Horologicon, it comes from a story where a painter made a painting and left it on display, hiding so that he could hear opinions on it. A cobbler made comment on the way a shoe had been wrongly painted. The painter took the painting away and corrected the shoe. The cobbler saw that the painter had changed the shoe, and became so proud of it that he started to comment on how the leg wasn't right. The painter jumped out from where he was hiding and yelled that the cobbler should go no further than the shoe. 

We are allowed opinions, but is it wise to voice them? Let us be careful not to go 'beyond the shoe.'