Superficial  

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A Scheme for abolishing all Words is one of the wittiest and smartest comments on semantics. (Illustration: extreme close-up from the movie "The Big Swallow" (1901), produced and directed by James Williamson (1855-1933)
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A Scheme for abolishing all Words is one of the wittiest and smartest comments on semantics. (Illustration: extreme close-up from the movie "The Big Swallow" (1901), produced and directed by James Williamson (1855-1933)

Superficial is a general term meaning "regarding the surface", often metaphorically. Both in the literal as in the metaphorical sense the term has often a negative connotation based on the idea that deeper parts are also important to consider.

The term is used to describe an observation or analysis that deals only with the most apparent and obvious features of some object, or phenomenon.

A superficial, or alternatively, an "over-simplified" argument is prone to many logical fallacies: including hasty generalization, division, composition and many others.

A person who exhibits a "superficial" comprehension of some or many subjects may be negatively attributed as being shallow, materialistic, and even exhibiting false emotions through an exaggerated affect. Occasionally they may be pseudointellectual.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Superficial" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on original research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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