What is the word for talking to someone as if they don't know anything


This is noticeable in conversation when person A keeps trying to educate the person B. Person A automatically assumes a position of higher knowledge. What is person A doing to person B? It's not patronizing is it, because he isn't necessarily trying to talk to the other person in a condescending manner.



Answer



There are several words depending on the context. When you say,



person A keeps trying to educate person B



It can mean that Person A genuinely had more factual information and it was actually a dialogue between Person A and B, then Person A could be educative or informative.


If on the other hand it was one-way traffic and Person A was speaking far more than Person B, then Person A was trying to edify Person B and Person A would be a pedagogue or a pedant; the latter if Person A was being persnickety.


If Person A was condescending to Person B, only in that case would Person A be patronizing Person B.


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