I'm glad I wasn't the only one who felt put-off by this. Generally the smartest people I know are also the most humble. And is it just me, or does this article not even take its own advice as evidenced by phrases such as "oh ye smart and lonely"?

Some more nuanced advice would have been nice, so I'll toss this out there: my current effort is to avoid over-qualifying what I say. Because I care about precision & nuance (and being 'actually right'), I can end up taking 90 seconds to say something that a 'normal person' can say in 15. "I thought it was a pretty good movie" turns into, "Though the cinematography seemed like it was trying too hard to be cinematography (though it resulted in some moments of beautiful film,), I thought the actors did great. Obviously not his best acting, but pretty good, really, considering that..."

Conversational negotiation demands shorter transactions: if the other person wants to know more they'll ask, "Oh, what did you like about it?"

It's hard stuff :)