Northover Edit Meaning

1.

A name given to a queer person who thinks he is so smart but is actually really stupid. He tries to use big words and phrases such as "cyclicality", "social Darwinism", "environmental determinism", and "Kantian dialectism". Little does he know that he is using these words and phrases out of context, and instead of sounding smart, he sounds like an idiot.

Northover: Hey kid, I'm so smart and you're so dumb. I bet you don't know about the social Darwinism of Kantian dialectism, and the cyclicality of these patterns.

Kid being spoken to: (thinks to himself) Damn, that kid is an idiot. He thinks he sounds smart but he sounds like a dumbass to me. He is such a Northover.

See inferiority complex, cocky, bragger, arrogant, idiot