Intelligent or understood

Hydro technician sounds a lot more impressive than water boy and beverage experience optimisation can hide the reality (just adding more coffee cups whenever we ran out) behind a veil of grandeur.

Alternatively utilising metaphors and similes trigger imagery in the audience’s head.

‘It was like whack-a-mole’

‘It’s like pushing against the ocean’.

To try and create a rule of thumb out of the differences I think use sophisticated words when you want to sound smart but use metaphors and similes when you want to be understood.