[thfuran]

>Isn't talking about, and exploring things that you're not an expert in, good, rather than bad, as that's how you learn new things?

Potentially, but that's not what "sophomoric" means. It's roughly the intersection of overconfident and immature.

[whitfieldsdad]

Ah, gotcha, I didn't realize that sophomore was an insult - I just thought it meant you were a student

[thfuran]

It is in reference to sophomore year as the second year of study—being like a kid who has studied a bit and fancies that they now know a lot. But "sophomore" itself doesn't have the negative connotation.

[whitfieldsdad]

Yeah, I get that, I just didn't realize that being a beginner in a particular field of study was a bad thing or something to be frowned upon.

If there's a trope about people new to a particular field being overconfident in what they know, maybe it's just human nature rather than a fatal character flaw, or sign of immaturity.

(i.e. since you'll likely have the same sense of overconfidence the next time you try something new, or work towards mastering a particular skill rather than that overconfidence only ever coming up once or twice in your entire life)

[thfuran]

>I just didn't realize that being a beginner in a particular field of study was a bad thing or something to be frowned upon.

It isn't really. Novice, for example, doesn't have negative connotations. The other thing sophomores have going for them is that they're typically teenagers or barely not, and an adult not having grown up generally does have negative connotations.

[whitfieldsdad]

Thanks for the insights!