ultracrepidarian
noun

- someone who has no special knowledge of a subject but who nevertheless expresses an opinion about it

The Cambridge Dictionary

—
WORD ORIGIN

The wonderful word ultracrepidarian can be traced back to Ancient Greece.

Apelles of Kos was a famous Greek painter and a contemporary of Philip II and Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.

Apelles would put his pictures on public display and then stand out of sight so he could listen to viewers’ comments.

Legend tells that a shoemaker once criticized the painter for a sandal with one loop too few, which Apelles gladly corrected.

The shoemaker, emboldened by this acceptance of his views, then criticized the subject’s leg. To this Apelles is reported as replying that a shoemaker should stick to his shoes,… in other words, critics should only comment on matters they know something about.

In Latin: ne supra crepidam sutor iudicaret – “the cobbler should not judge beyond his shoe”

Nowadays, this saying can still be found in several languages:

- English “A cobbler should stick to his last”

- German „Schuster, bleib bei deinem Leisten”

- Spanish “Zapatero a tus zapatos”

- Dutch “Schoenmaker, blijf bij je leest”

- Danish “Skomager, bliv ved din læst”

- Polish “Pilnuj, szewcze, kopyta”

—
SYNONYMS

- a self-assertive and arrogant person

bigmouth, braggart, clever clogs, clever Dick, Mr know-it-all, know-all, smart aleck, smart-arse, smartie, smarty, smarty-boots, smarty-pants, someone speaking cobblers, swellhead, ULTRACREPIDARIAN, w(e)isenheimer, windbag, wiseacre, wise guy

—
SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Hey Martin, if someone calls you an ULTRACREPIDARIAN, you can be a smarty-pants and explain the origin of the word.”

—
HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3

and,

Paul Smith, IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40